CARLATA BRADLEY

On this day in 1986, The Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first
broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran to secure the release of seven
American hostages. The story turned into the Iran-Contra affair.

Lt. Col. Oliver North during the ‘Iran Contra Hearings’.

President Reagan (far right) meets with (left to right) Secretary of Defense
Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of State George Shultz, Attorney General
Ed Meese, and Chief of Staff Don Regan in the Oval Office.

Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens was elected
the 30th President of Chile on this day in 1970.

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun turned 70 in August.

Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator
on this day in 1992.

Minnesota elected Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a former pro wrestler, as its
governor on this day in 1998.

Jesse Ventura (James George Janos) turned 66 in July.

MIKE GRACIA

Harry S. Truman holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribune with the incorrect headline

Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey for the U.S. presidency on this
day in 1948. The Chicago Tribune published an early edition that had the
headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN (above)." The Truman victory had 
surprised many polls and newspapers.

President Truman (right) on his campaign train whistle-stop.

On this day in 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was
assassinated in a military coup.

Howard Hughes flew his "Spruce Goose," a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California on this day in 1947. It was the plane’s first and only
flight. The "Spruce Goose," nicknamed because of the white-gray color of
the spruce used to build it, never went into production.

The H-4 today is in McMinnville, Oregon, at the Evergreen Air and
Space Museum, about an hour outside of Portland.

On this day in 1959, Charles Van Doren, a game show contestant
on the NBC-TV program "Twenty-One" admitted that he had been
given questions and answers in advance.

Charles Lincoln Van Doren turned 91 in Feb.   

SANDY KOZEL

Central Pacific and Union Pacific Rail Roads meet in Promontory,
UT on this day in 1869. A golden spike was driven in the track at
the celebration of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S.

            
                The identical twin of  the Last Spike.

The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany on
this day in 1933.

Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first black president
on this day in 1994.

Bono (Paul David Hewson) is 57 years old today.

Bono is the front man of U2, known for such hits as "Sunday
Bloody Sunday" and "Beautiful Day." The band has earned
over 20 Grammy Awards and has sold over 150 million
records. He is also a well-known philanthropist who has
championed causes in his native Ireland, in Africa, and all
over the world.

He spent his childhood singing. Growing up on O’Connell
Street in a suburb of Dublin, he earned his nickname "Bono"
from the phrase "Bono Vox of O’Connell Street," which means
"good voice of O’Connell Street."  He was named the Time
Person of the Year in 2005, along with Bill and Melinda Gates.

SANDY KOZEL

Nazi Germany’s capital Berlin falls in World War II on this day in
1945 after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting.

The Death of one of the most diversely talented individuals ever
to have lived, Leonardo Da Vinci, was on this day in 1519.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s last words were: "I have offended God and
mankind. My work did not reach the quality it should have."

It was on this day in 1863

           
             John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972)

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1968

Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer
Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. It opened
on this day in 1943 on Broadway.

Opening on this day in 1889.