The federal government under Roosevelt (above) decided
to limit the production of certain crops such as wheat to “stabilize” supplies and prices.

On this day in 1943 In a wartime rationing effort, the US
government banned the sale of sliced bread—in theory,
to conserve wax paper and the steel used in bread-
slicing machines.

After huge backlash, they rescind the order in less than
two months.

    
CARLATA BRADLEY

Martin Luther King Jr.  (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

On January 13, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed
the first African American cabinet member, making Robert C.
Weaver head of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). The agency that develops and
implements national housing policy and enforces fair
housing laws.
 

In keeping with his vision for a Great Society, Johnson
sought to improve race relations and eliminate urban
blight.

As many of the country’s African Americans lived in run-
down inner-city areas, appointing Weaver was an attempt
to show his African American constituency that he meant
business on both counts.

On January 7, 1999, the impeachment trial of President
Bill Clinton, formally charged with lying under oath and
obstructing justice, began in the Senate.

As instructed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution,
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist was
sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in
as jurors.

Congress had only attempted to remove a president on
one other occasion: the 1868 impeachment trial of
President Andrew Johnson, who incurred the Republican
Party’s wrath after he had proposed a conservative
Reconstruction plan.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist (top left) swearing in senators.

February 12, 1999.

Elected in 1964, Patsy T. Mink was sworn in on January 4, 1965,
as the first Asian – American woman and first woman of color
to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Throughout her career, the U.S. representative for Hawaii was
a strong supporter of civil and women’s rights, as well as an
advocate for children, labor unions and education.

Serving as a member of the Committee for Education and Labor,
Mink was vocal in her opposition to the Vietnam War and was
a supporter of a national daycare system, Head Start and the
Women’s Educational Equity Act.

She was again elected to Congress in 1990, serving until her
death at age 74 in 2002. Soon after her death, Title IX was
renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education
Act.         


    
    
    
    
       
        
       

1972

Patsy Matsu Mink (December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002)