For the first time in U.S. history, a debate between major party
presidential candidates is shown on television.
The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator
of Massachusetts and Richard M. Nixon, the vice president of
the United States, met in a Chicago studio to discuss U.S.
domestic matters.
CAMILLE
BOHANNON
Patty Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison. President
Jimmy Carter commuted Hearst’s sentence to time served in
February 1979. Hearst gained her release from prison after just
twenty-two months. On January 20, 2001, the last full day of his presidency, Bill Clinton granted Patricia Campbell Hearst a full
pardon.
Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954)
CARLATA BRADLEY
Donald Wetzel (center) demonstrates America’s first ATM in 1969 at
the former Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, LI.
On August 26, 1939, the first televised Major League baseball
game was broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was
to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber (below) called
the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn
Dodgers at Ebbits Field in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1939, the World’s Fair—which was being held in New York,
became the catalyst for the historic broadcast. The television
was one of the fair’s prize exhibits, and organizers believed
that the Dodgers-Reds doubleheader on August 26 was the
perfect event to showcase America’s grasp on the new
technology.
