TIM MAGUIRE

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson won the election 
on this day in 1960, defeating incumbent Vice President and  
Republican nominee Richard Nixon, who would later go on
to be the 37th President of the United States. This was the
first election in which all fifty states participated, and the
last in which the District of Columbia did not.

Newley elected President John F. Kennedy meets
with Richard M. Nixon following the election.

On this day in 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected to his first term as Governor of California with 57.65% of the vote. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 2000, America’s Presidential vote faced limbo. There
was no winner named until more than a month later.

A Florida election official tries to figure out a voter’s intentions.

Also on this day in 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton made history when
she became the first president’s wife to win public office. The state
of New York elected her to the U.S. Senate. (New York).

Hillary Rodham Clinton is sworn in as a United States Senator by
Vice President Al Gore in the Old Senate Chamber, as President
Clinton and daughter Chelsea look on, January 3, 2001.

The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington
state collapsed during a windstorm on this day in 1940. The third
longest suspension span in the world opened to traffic on July 1,
1940.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge as it looks today.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt won an
unprecedented third term in office.

The U.S. presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon,
defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President
Hubert Humphrey.

After more than a year out of the ring, on this day in 1994, George
Foreman took on the new champ, Michael Moorer, and knocked
him out in the 10th round. With the victory, at the age of 45, he
became the oldest fighter ever to win the heavyweight crown
as well as the boxer with the most time between one world
championship and the next. Foreman ultimately retired in 1997
after compiling an amazing 76-5 career record.

George Edward Foreman turned 69 in January.

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.

Reagan meets with aides on the Iran-Contra affair.

President Ronald Reagan holds up a copy of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra affair.

One of the 52 United States hostages is displayed to the crowd
outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by his captors, a few days
into their ordeal.

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

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun turned 71 August 16.

MIKE GRACIA

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

On this day in 1945, Howard Hughes flew his "Spruce Goose," a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California. It was the plane’s
first and only flight and never went into production.

Take-off: Howard Hughes’ H-4, the "Spruce Goose." 

Hughes watches engineer Chal Bowen, October 31, 1947, two days before the flight as the radio operator looks on. Thirty-six people
were on board for the test flight.

Flight-deck seats, put in for military observers, seven guests from
the press corps and an additional seven industry representatives. 

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.

Van Doren (at left) faces Herb Stempel (far right) on “Twenty-One,”
in 1956, under the eye of the show’s host, Jack Barry. Some fifty
million people watched the climax of their rivalry.

Charles Lincoln Van Doren turned 92 in February.