ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL,
and began the first manned mission to land on the moon.

Nasa astronauts from left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1971, President Nixon announced that he’d sent Henry Kissinger to China and that the result of these meetings was an agreement for a presidential trip to China to seek a ‘’normalization
of relations.”

President Nixon shakes hands with Premier Chou En-lai of the
People’s Republic of China.

President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon Visiting the
Great Wall of China.

President Abraham Lincoln (above) signed into law a measure calling
for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor (above) in the name
of Congress “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall
most – distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other
soldier like qualities during the present insurrection.”

The first U.S. Army soldiers to receive what would become the nation’s 
highest military honor were six members of a Union raiding party who
in 1862 penetrated deep into Confederate territory to destroy bridges 
and railroad tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta, 
Georgia.

In 1863, the Medal of Honor was made a permanent military decoration
available to all members, including commissioned officers, of the U.S.
military. It is conferred upon those who have distinguished themselves
in actual combat at risk of life beyond the call of duty.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On this day in 1984 ~

Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale (right) named U.S. Rep.
Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York (left) to be his running mate. Ferraro was
the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.

Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale turned 91 in January.

Geraldine Anne "Gerry" Ferraro (August 26, 1935 – March 26, 2011)

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874)

Vice President Millard Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th
president of the United States. President Zachary Taylor
had died the day before, five days after falling ill with a
severe intestinal ailment on the Fourth of July.

Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850)

Zachary Taylor on his death bed in the White House.