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.”
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.
In London on this day in 2003, the last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed.
"The Last Touchdown." (With British: ‘Union Jack’ Flag & American: ‘Stars & Stripes’ Flag.)
On this day in 2002, The D.C. Sniper suspects were caught at Myersville rest stop. Law enforcement officers search the car that John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were in when police arrested them at the rest stop along I-70.
John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.
"The Bushmaster rifle used by convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo is seen at the Montgomery County Judicial Center after it was entered into evidence during the murder trial.
In California on this day in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic. The bridge connected San Francisco and Marin County.
In The Hague, Netherlands on this day in 1999, a war crimes tribunal indicted Slobodan Milosevic along with four others for atrocities in Kosovo. It was the first time that a sitting head of state had been charged with such a crime. He was found dead at age 64 from an apparent heart attack in his prison cell on March 11, 2006.
The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by British naval and air forces on this day in 1941. A total of 2,300 people were killed.
It was on this day in 1936.
In Charlottesville, VA, on this day in 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after being thrown from his horse during a jumping event.
