ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed
enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court by as many as 15 judges.The controversial plan failed.

The 1937 U.S. Supreme Court.

On this day in 1994, white separatist Byron De La Beckwith (left) was convicted
in Jackson, MS, of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers (right).

De La Beckwith was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He
died while incarcerated seven years later at age 80. He had suffered from
heart disease, high blood pressure, and other ailments for some time.

The above Mississippi home where Medgar Evers was fatally shot
in the back as he was getting out of his car on June 12, 1963.

    (February 25, 2013)

Medgar Evers was the first assassination of a 
high-ranking public figure in the civil rights
movement.                          

BRIAN THOMAS

It was on this day in 1959.

(NOTE) Holly’s mother and his widow both learned he had died from
the news. Ever since, police departments have made it a policy not
to release a victim’s name until their family has been notified.
 

A 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza (Model 35), similar to the aircraft that crashed.

Gull Avenue, Crash site is located west of intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue., Clear Lake, IA.

Former KGW radio D.J. Red Robinson (left) and Buddy Holly.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this day in 1960, U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential
nomination.

On this day in 1935, Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindberghs baby (below). Hauptmann was found guilt and executed.

Aviator Charles Augustus Lindbergh
(February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

ED DANAHUE

On this is day in 1845, President James Polk and signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States.

Boundaries of Texas after the annexation in 1845.

Depiction of Anson Jones lowering Republic flag following
annexation by the United States.

The U.S. and Texas flags at the Texas State Capitol.

The first American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was organized, in Boston, MA. on this day in 1851. 

A group of evangelicals from several Boston churches, led by retired sea
captain  and lay preacher Thomas Valentine Sullivan, founded the first
YMCA in the United States. Modeled on the original YMCA established in
London in 1844 by George Williams, this new organization offered a safe
gathering place, opportunities for socializing, bible-study classes and
prayer meetings.

 
Thomas Valentine Sullivan                        George Williams

ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1978, Cult leader Jim Jones and hundreds of his
followers died in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
in South America. It was the largest mass suicide in modern
history and resulted in the largest single loss of American
civilian life in a non-natural disaster until September 11, 2001.

Shown are bodies of members of the Peoples Temple who died
after their leader Jim Jones ordered them to drink Flav-R-Aid
laced with cyanide. 

Congressman Leo Ryan (above) was among five killed by Temple members at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip (below).

The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered
in New York on this day in 1928. It was Walt Disney’s "Steamboat
Willie," starring Mickey Mouse.

Walt Disney drawing “Steamboat Willie”.