On this day in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court by as many as 15 judges.The controversial plan failed.
The 1937 U.S. Supreme Court.
On this day in 1994, white separatist Byron De La Beckwith (left) was convicted in Jackson, MS, of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers (right).
De La Beckwith was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He died while incarcerated seven years later at age 80.He had suffered from heart disease, high blood pressure, and other ailments for some time.
The above Mississippi home where Medgar Evers was fatally shot in the back as he was getting out of his car on June 12, 1963.
(February 25, 2013)
Medgar Evers was the first assassination of a high-ranking public figure in the civil rights movement.
On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
The Pueblo’s mission began in early January, 1968, when the crew set off from the U.S. Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan with orders to conduct surveillance on Soviet Navy and North Korean signal and electronic intelligence activity.
The captured crew (above) were beaten and nearly starved in the incident that almost led to another war.
Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.
North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.
On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.
LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis, Md.
John William Carson(October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
On this day in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that had been restricting abortions during the first six months of pregnancy. The case (Roe vs. Wade) legalized abortion.
On this day in 1968, "Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In", debuted on NBC television and aired until March 12, 1973. The program was ranked number 42 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
NBC built a "Today" show studio inside the RCA Exhibition Hall on West 49th Street and dubbed it "the nerve center of the planet."
Dave Garroway, the host, knew, on the very first day, that he was making history. In the first few minutes, he stood up to take viewers on a tour of this strange-looking newsroom.
On this day in 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married in a civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall, where they were mobbed by reporters and fans. Monroe had apparently mentioned the wedding plans to someone at her film studio and they leaked it to the press. The couple spent their wedding night at the Clifton Motel in Paso Robles, California and later honeymooned in Japan and Korea. The marriage only lasted nine short months.
