MIKE GRACIA

The Senate meeting to consider the Articles of Impeachment against
President William Clinton. Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding.

President Clinton went on trial before the Senate on this day in 1999. It was
only the second time in U.S. history that an impeached president had gone
to trial. Clinton was acquitted February 12 of perjury and obstruction of
justice charges.
 

  
Hillary Clinton stood next to Bill Clinton as he delivered his
strongest public denial of allegations that he had an affair
with Monica Lewinsky, during a press conference at the
White House.

ED  DANAHUE

On this day in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the recount ordered
by the Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election was
unconstitutional. U.S. Vice President Al Gore conceded the election to
Texas Gov. George W. Bush  the next day.

Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert
Rosenberg looks over a questionable ballot, 25 November
2000.

President elect George W. Bush (left) meets with Vice President
Al Gore at the Naval Observatory December 19, 2000 in D.C.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1940, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a 42 mph windstorm. The suspension
bridge had opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. The collapse had lasting 
effects on science and engineering.

William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018)

Billy Graham was an American evangelist, a prominent evangelical Christian
figure, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well-known internationally in the late 1940s. One of his biographers has placed him
"among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.

On  this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the
United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the
popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern
Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell,
and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.

Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative to
Congress, first gained national stature during his campaign against
Stephen Douglas of Illinois for a U.S. Senate seat in 1858.

1860 Election Facts:

• Welcome: Minnesota and Oregon become states during this
  election cycle
• Original 13 States control fewer than 50% of total Electoral
  Votes for first time
• Lincoln received only about 40% of the popular vote in a
  divided nation on the brink of Civil War
• New Jersey: Douglas won the popular vote on a Fusion
  slate comprised of 3 of his electors and 2 each for
  Breckinridge and Bell. Apparently – the history is a bit
  murky – some voters received a ballot with seven Douglas
  electors, taking votes from the Breckinridge/Bell electors.
  Bottom line – the 3 Douglas electors on the Fusion slate
  received the most votes, while the most votes for the four
  remaining spots went to Lincoln’s electors.
• Issues of the Day: Slavery (Dred Scott decision, Secession)

TIM MAGUIRE

The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard
M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this day         
in 1960.

John F. Kennedy                      Richard  M. Nixon