On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
The Pueblo’s mission began in early January, 1968, when the crew set off from the U.S. Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan with orders to conduct surveillance on Soviet Navy and North Korean signal and electronic intelligence activity.
The captured crew (above) were beaten and nearly starved in the incident that almost led to another war.
Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.
North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.
On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.
LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis, Md.
John William Carson(October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford (below) on this day in 1908. The purchase price of the car was $850.
Game one of the first modern World Series took place at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Ball Field (above) on this day in 1903. It was between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston prevailed five games to three, winning the last four.
On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. Jack Paar was the previous host.
Host Johnny Carson, right, appears with the show’s announcer Ed McMahon during the final taping of the "Tonight Show" on May 22, 1992.
Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL. on this day in 1971.
Jack Paar replaced Walter Cronkite as host of "The Morning Show" on CBS-TV.
Singer Julius La Rosa, left, makes a guest appearance on “The Morning Show” with host Jack Paar.
Anchorman Walter Cronkite, host of CBS Television’s ‘The Morning Show,’ with his daily guest, Charlemane the lion, one of the Bill and Cora Baird Puppets.
On this day in 1939, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the "Pact of Steel."
Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
President Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Russia on this day in 1972. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
In Birmingham, AL. on this day in 2002, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry (above) of murder in the 1963 church bombing that killed four girls shown on the memorial below.
Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s "Tonight Show" for the last time on this day in 1992. He had been host for 30 years.
English actor and director Laurence Olivier who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles.
