On this day in 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, was born on a plantation in Virginia.
Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a four-year course of study in two years and, in 1769, helped found the American Whig Society, the second literary and debate society at Princeton (and the world), to rival the previously established Cliosophic Society.
On February 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Racing, —or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known—is officially incorporated. NASCAR racing will go on to become one of America’s most popular spectator sports, as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry.
The driving force behind the establishment of NASCAR was William “Bill” France Sr. (1909-1992), a mechanic and auto- repair shop owner from Washington, D.C., who in the mid- 1930s moved to Daytona Beach, Florida.
William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992)
More than 6,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the city of Kobe, Japan on this day in 1995. It was the most severe earthquake to affect that region this century. The economic loss as a result of this earthquake is estimated to reach $200 billion.
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
Franklin was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.
Benjamin Franklin wrote under the pseudonym Mrs. Silence Dogood, and published provocative letters. He was the first United States Ambassador to France, where he advocated religious tolerance.
On this day in 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry (above) released a report that said that smoking cigarettes was a definite health hazard.
Amelia Earhart Putnam became the first woman to fly solo from Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland Airport in Oakland, Californiaon this day in 1935.
Amelia in Oakland, triumphant after the Hawaii-to-California flight.
Amelia Mary Earhart, (born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937)
On this day in 1961, approximately 1,400 U.S.-supported Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It was an unsuccessful attack.
On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely after an on- board accident with an oxygen tank.
The crew members of Apollo 13—Fred Haise (left), Jim Lovell (center), and Jack Swigert—step aboard the “USS Iwo Jima” following splashdown and recovery operations in the south Pacific Ocean.
Benjamin Franklin(January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly gout, which became worse as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death. Franklin died from pleuritic attack at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84.
An Illustration of Benjamin Franklin on His Death Bed.
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913)
The Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model on this day in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. Ford anticipated they would sell around 100,000 units a year, and were somewhat unprepared when they received 22,000 orders in the first day alone!