SANDY KOZEL

Alexander Graham Bell‘s “liquid” transmitter design
permitted the first successful transmission of speech
by Bell to his assistant, Thomas Watson in another
room when he said…“Mr. Watson, come here; I want
you.”

ED DANAHUE

Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates)
(December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008)

Bo Diddley played a key role in the transition from
the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists,
including Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and the Beatles.      
 

His use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a
simple  five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone
of hip hop, rock, and pop music.     

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On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally took possession of
Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2
million, or less than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples
settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier.

The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about
twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William
Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary
of state under President Andrew Johnson.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote
and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it
in battle with a rival such as Great Britain.

Treasury warrant in the amount of $7.2 million for the
purchase of Alaska. (Department of the Treasury;
National Archives)

                 (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872)

With the words, “Hello! This is New York calling,” the U.S. Voice
of America (VOA) began its first radio broadcasts to the Soviet
Union. The VOA effort was an important part of America’s
propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union during the
Cold War.

The VOA began in 1942 as a radio program designed to
explain America’s policies during World War II and to
bolster the morale of its allies throughout Europe, Asia,
the Middle East, and Africa.

After the war, VOA continued as part of America’s Cold War
propaganda arsenal and was primarily directed toward the
western European audience.

Boris Pasternak’s romantic novel, Doctor Zhivago is published
in the United States on September 5, 1958. The book was banned
in the Soviet Union, but still won the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1958.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
(29 January] 1890 – 30 May 1960)