JOHN BELMONT
The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd on this day in 1929.
Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr.
(October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957)
A 1930 documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd
and his 1st quest to the South Pole.
TIM MAGUIRE
On this day in 1936, the first issue of the pictorial magazine Life
was published, featuring a cover photo of the Fort Peck Dam’s
spillway by Margaret Bourke-White.
Life actually had its start earlier in the 20th century as a different
kind of magazine: a weekly humor publication, not unlike today’s
The New Yorker in its use of tart cartoons, humorous pieces and
cultural reporting. When the original Life folded during the Great
Depression, the influential American publisher Henry Luce
bought the name and re-launched the magazine as a picture-
based periodical on this day in 1936. By this time, Luce had
already enjoyed great success as the publisher of Time, a
weekly news magazine.
Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967)
President John F. Kennedy addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20, 1963. Kennedy spoke for what
would be his last address to that body.
An optimistic and upbeat President John F. Kennedy suggests that the
Soviet Union and the United States cooperate on a mission to mount an
expedition to the moon. The proposal caught both the Soviets and many
Americans off guard.
In 1961, shortly after his election as president, John F. Kennedy announced
that he was determined to win the “space race” with the Soviets. Since 1957,
when the Soviet Union sent a small satellite–Sputnik–into orbit around the
earth, Russian and and American scientists had been competing to see who
could make the next breakthrough in space travel.
President Kennedy closed his speech by urging, “Let us do the big things together.”
JOHN BELMONT
On this day in 1963, President Johnson named a commission headed
by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy.
Members of the Warren Commission present their report to President
Lyndon Johnson (fourth from right).
President John F. Kennedy(left) with his wife, Jacqueline, and Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, riding in the presidential limousine, minutes before the assassination.
The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy
Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd (below) on this day in 1929.
Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr.
(October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957)
Medal of Honor
CARLATA BRADLEY
On this day in 1962, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson presented photographic evidence to the United Nations Security Council. The photos were of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
Soviet Ambassador Zorin.
A Kennedy administration official (upper left) shows aerial views of
one of the Cuban medium-range missile bases, taken in October
1962.
The Charge of the Light Brigade took place during the Crimean War
on this day in 1854. The British were winning the Battle of Balaclava when Lord James Cardigan received an order to attack the Russians
and took his troops into a valley where they suffered 40 percent casualties. It was later revealed that the order was the result of
confusion and was not given intentionally.
Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. The view is
from the Fedokine hills across the Causeway toward Balaklava
harbor in this painting by William Simpson.
On this day in 1983, U.S. troops and soldiers from six Caribbean
nations invaded Grenada to restore order and provide protection
to U.S. citizens after a recent coup within Grenada’s Communist
(pro-Cuban) government.
U.S Special Operations Forces in Grenada.
William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999)
It was on this day in 1999.
Stewart, 42, was one of the world’s most recognizable golfers because of his trademark knickerbockers. The plane carrying Stewart and five others crashed
near Aberdeen, South Dakota, after traveling 1,500 miles, most of it while the
pilot, co-pilot and passengers were apparently unconscious or dead when the
plane lost cabin pressure during its flight and ran out of fuel and crashed. The
sounds of a low-pressure alarm could be heard on the recovered cockpit voice recorder.
The Learjet 35, N47BA, before its final flight on October 25, 1999.
