NewsInHistory Blog

Lincoln: ‘A House Divided against Itself Cannot Stand’

Part of President Abraham Lincoln’s enduring legacy is the reputation he earned as a gifted orator. He is the president who delivered two of the greatest speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address, and his second inaugural address. These are speeches that are familiar to many Americans, and both are inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. read more...

America’s First Korean War—in 1871

The Korean War is one of the least-known wars in the history of the United States. Most of the American public knows we fought in the Korean War, and a few even know combat lasted from 1950 to 1953, and that more than 36,000 Americans died trying to prevent Communist North Korea from overrunning the democratic republic established in South Korea. Almost all Americans assume this was the one and only Korean War fought by the United States. read more...

Senator McCarthy Finally Slapped Down, Ending Reign of Terror

It was one of the worst examples in American history of paranoia run amok. During the early 1950s U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy ruined the careers and lives of many decent, loyal Americans by investigating them on bogus charges of supporting the Communist Party and being enemies of the United States. He had Americans convinced there were communists in the federal government and the Army, lurking around every corner and hiding behind every door. The end to his reign of terror began on June 9, 1954, when a special counsel to the U.S. read more...

Native Americans Granted U.S. Citizenship by 1924 Bill

On June 2, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. As with most things having to do with white society, the federal government, and Native Americans, the act was controversial. Supporters praised the brave fighting many Indians performed for the United States during World War I, and pointed out that by 1924 over two-thirds of all Native Americans had gained citizenship already. read more...

Engineering Marvel: California’s Golden Gate Bridge Opens

It was the bridge they said could not be built. Perched at the tip of a peninsula, San Francisco was separated from the rest of northern California by the 6,700-foot-wide “Golden Gate,” an opening where San Francisco Bay flows into the Pacific Ocean. With a channel 500 feet deep, strong tides and currents, occasional fierce storms, and the threat of earthquakes, the Golden Gate seemed unbridgeable. read more...

May Addition: NewsInHistory Adds More Papers!

NewsInHistory is continually adding more content to our historical newspaper archive—titles new to our collection as well as expanding the date ranges and number of issues for titles already in our archive. New titles are indicated by an asterisk (*). This current addition involves 40 newspapers from 23 states and the District of Columbia. A total of 5,555 issues have been added in this release! Here are the details:

Alabama

Mobile Register (Mobile). 6 issues: 1984 to 1985 read more...

Congressman Condemns ‘Cruelty and Perfidy’ of Indian Removal Act

On May 26, 1830, Congress passed one of the most infamous pieces of legislation in American history: the Indian Removal Act, designed to kick the “Five Civilized Tribes” out of their ancestral lands in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. President Andrew Jackson, who had urged Congress to pass a removal act in an 1829 speech, signed the act into law two days after Congress passed it, on May 28. read more...

John Scopes Indicted for Teaching Evolution

On May 25, 1925, a thirteen-member grand jury in Rhea County, Tennessee, indicted science teacher John Thomas Scopes for the crime of teaching evolution to his high school biology class. This legal action set in motion one of the most notorious trials of the 20th century, one famously nicknamed the Scopes “Monkey Trial” by the Baltimore Sun’s acerbic journalist, H. L. Mencken. Newspapers across the nation closely followed Scopes’s trial, and thousands of Americans tuned in to hear the first trial in the United States broadcast on national radio. read more...

Nation Mourns: Charles Lindbergh’s Kidnapped Son Found Dead

In what the press called the “Crime of the Century,” the murdered infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was found in the woods near Hopewell, New Jersey, on May 12, 1932. The body was discovered just a few miles from the Lindbergh’s home. The 20-month-old infant had been kidnapped from the second-story nursery of his parents’ home 10 weeks prior, sparking a nationwide search and causing worldwide expressions of concern. read more...

April Addition: NewsInHistory Adds More Papers!

NewsInHistory is continually adding more content to our historical newspaper archive—titles new to our collection as well as expanding the date ranges and number of issues for titles already in our archive. New titles are indicated by an asterisk (*). This current addition involves 61 newspapers from 28 states and the District of Columbia. A total of 8,121 issues have been added in this release! Here are the details:

Alabama

Mobile Register (Mobile). 6 issues: 1984 to 1985 read more...