In an evening televised address on August 8, 1974, President
Richard M. Nixon announced his intention to become the
first president in American history to resign.

With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing
to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White
House. 

“By taking this action,” he said in a solemn address from the
Oval Office, “I hope that I will have hastened the start of the
process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.”

On this day in 1966,Charles Whitman took a stockpile of
guns and ammunition to the observatory platform atop
a 300-foot tower at the University of Texas and proceeded
to shoot 46 people, killing 14 people and wounding 32.

Whitman, who had killed both his wife and mother the
night before, was eventually shot to death after courageous
Austin police officers, including Ramiro Martinez, charged
up the stairs of the tower to subdue the attacker.

Ramiro "Ray" Martinez turned 86 in January.

Charles Joseph Whitman
(June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966)

CAMMILE
BOHANNON

The 1967 Detroit Riots were among the bloodiest in American
history. The strife occurred during a period of Detroit’s history
when the once-affluent city was struggling economically, and
race relations nationwide were at an all-time low.

TIM MAGUIRE

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)