Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married on this day in
1954. The marriage only lasted nine months.
Under federal troop escort, the Little Rock Nine were escorted back
into Central High School for their first full day of classes.
Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine black
students entered an all-white High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Three
weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the
school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered
racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight Eisenhower
federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army troops
to Little Rock to enforce the court order.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivering a special broadcast on
the Little Rock situation.
On this day in 1980, Mt. Saint Helens erupted in Washington state. A
total of 57 people were killed along with 3 billion dollars in damage.
Mt. Saint Helens as it looks today.
An international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22
top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes on this day in 1946.
The Berlin Airlift came to an end on this day in 1949. The airlift had
taken 2.3 million tons of food into the western sector despite the
Soviet blockade.
On this day in 1962, James Meredith, a black US military veteran,
succeeded in registering at the University of Mississippi. It was
his fourth attempt to register. President Kennedy (below) had to
call in the army to get him admitted.
Meredith, center with briefcase, is escorted to the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. marshals.
August 18, 1963: James Meredith graduates from Ole Miss.
It was on this day in 1955.
James Dean was driving his brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder to an
auto rally in Salinas, California, when he was involved in a head-on collision.
1955
1955