President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first "fireside chat"
on this day in history, March 12, 1933, to reassure and inform
a nation reeling from the effects of the Great Depression.

This was the first in a series of broadcasts in which FDR
spoke plainly and directly to every American within the
sound of his voice.

According to Britannica, the term "fireside chat" was coined
by Harry Butcher of the CBS radio network.  

Bronze sculpture of a man listening to the 1930s valve radio. This sculpture by George Segal at the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, DC, commemorates the famous
fireside radio chats during the Great Depression.

MIKE GRACIA

Ronald William Howard is a director, producer, screenwriter,
and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor,
guest-starring in several television series, including an
episode of The Twilight Zone. 


He is best known for playing young Opie Taylor, the son 
of Sheriff Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) in the
sitcom The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 through 1968. He
is 69 years old today.  

1973

1976

1995

Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875)

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 11 articles of
impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, nine
of which cite Johnson’s removal of Secretary of War
Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

The House vote made President Johnson, the 17th President
of the United States of America, the first president to be
impeached in U.S. history.

Newspaper illustration of the impeachment hearing for
President Andrew Johnson.

George Washington
(February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

On February 22, 1732, George Washington was
born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the first
of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball
Washington. (Augustine had three additional
children from his first marriage.) An initially
loyal British subject, Washington eventually
led the Continental Army in the American
Revolution and became the new nation’s first
president. He is often referred to as the father
of the United States.

President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai shake
hands in Beijing.

In an amazing turn of events, President Richard Nixon took a
dramatic first step toward normalizing relations with the
communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) by traveling
to Beijing for a week of talks. Nixon’s historic visit began
the slow process of the re-establishing diplomatic relations
between the United States and communist China.