President John F. Kennedy addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20, 1963. Kennedy spoke for what
would be his last address to that body.

An optimistic and upbeat President John F. Kennedy suggests that the
Soviet Union and the United States cooperate on a mission to mount an
expedition to the moon. The proposal caught both the Soviets and many
Americans off guard.

In 1961, shortly after his election as president, John F. Kennedy announced
that he was determined to win the “space race” with the Soviets. Since 1957,
when the Soviet Union sent a small satellite–Sputnik–into orbit around the
earth, Russian and and American scientists had been competing to see who
could make the next breakthrough in space travel.

President Kennedy closed his speech by urging, “Let us do the big things together.”

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this  day in 1947, a United States Army Air Forces balloon crashed at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Following wide initial interest in the crashed "flying disc", the US military stated that it was merely a conventional weather balloon. Interest subsequently waned until the late 1970s, when Ufologists began
promoting a variety of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories, claiming
that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military, which then engaged in a cover-
up.

In the 1990s, the US military published two reports disclosing the true nature
of the crashed object: a nuclear test surveillance balloon from Project Mogul.

Roswell Army Air Field Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel, sr. holding
foil debris from Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash site.

SANDY KOZEL

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

Mount Vernon Estate seen from the Potomac River.

Statue of George Washington, State
Capitol, Richmond, Virginia.

Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985)

Roger Maris was an professional baseball player who played four seasons
in the minor leagues and twelve seasons in the major leagues. He played
right field on four Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, from 1957 through
1968 and set the MLB record for home runs during the 1961 season with
61, breaking Babe Ruth‘s single-season record of 60 home runs in 1927.

Roger Maris was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1983 and
died at age 51 at M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas.

Roger Maris plaque in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.

October 2, 1961 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine
featuring Roger Maris hitting one of his late-season,
record home runs.

Maris organized the annual Roger Maris
Celebrity Golf Tournament to raise money
for cancer research and treatment.  

TIM MAGUIRE

The Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore-hauling freighter and its crew of 29
vanished during a storm in Lake Superior on this day in 1975. It was
the largest ship to sail on the Great Lakes.

Edmund Fitzgerald in its watery grave.

On this day in 1969, the children’s TV series "Sesame Street" made
its debut on PBS.

Shown above is an early cast and crew photo. (click to enlarge)