In the summer of 1876, the United States was preparing to joyfully celebrate its centennial. The nation had been settled “from sea to shining sea,” and was a young country rich with resources and full of promise, recovering quickly from the ordeal of a dreadful civil war. However, this buoyant mood was dampened in late June and early July by newspaper reports of shocking defeats of U.S. troops by a large force of Arapaho, Cheyenne and Lakota Indians in Montana. read more...
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The Pledge of Allegiance, a patriotic oath swearing loyalty to the American flag and nation, was originally written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. Since its creation the pledge has been modified four times, with the latest change the most controversial: on Flag Day, June 14, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill inserting the words “under God” into the pledge. This change, although heartily welcomed by many, caused some critics to worry about the separation of church and state stipulated in the U.S. Constitution. read more...
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On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his historic nomination of Thurgood Marshall, whose great-grandfather had been a slave, to be the first African American Supreme Court justice in the nation’s history. As expected there was opposition to this bold move, especially from such conservative Southern politicians as Senator Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. However, Marshall’s impressive qualifications were too strong to be denied, and on August 30 the Senate confirmed him as an associate justice of the Supreme Court by a vote of 69-11. read more...
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In June 1958 Richard Perry Loving and Mildred Delores Jeter consummated their love by getting married in Washington, D.C., and became—appropriately enough—Mr. and Mrs. Loving. After their wedding ceremony, the young couple returned to the area where both had grown up, Caroline County, Virginia, to begin married life together. In July they were both arrested—for the crime of marrying one another. read more...
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The federal prison on Alcatraz Island (“The Rock”) was in operation for 29 years, from 1934 to 1963, and the official history is that no prisoner ever escaped. The prison was well fortified, with high walls, barbed wire, iron bars and lookout towers, and patrolled by armed guards with orders to shoot to kill. What made the prison escape-proof, however, were the cold waters and swift currents of San Francisco Bay surrounding Alcatraz Island, sure to drown any would-be escaper. read more...
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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...
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Graceland, Elvis Presley’s 23-room mansion and 14-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, was the singer’s sanctuary where he carefully guarded his privacy. He died in his beloved mansion at the age of 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, apparently of a heart attack, and is buried there along with his parents and grandmother. Five years later, with the estate burdened with enormous upkeep costs and a large tax bill, Presley’s former wife Priscilla was facing the possibility of selling Graceland. read more...
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In the summer of 1968 America was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, killed on Nov. 22, 1963, and the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., killed on April 4, 1968, when a third assassination shocked the nation. At 12:15 the morning of June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the late president’s brother, was shot at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after delivering a speech celebrating his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. read more...
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Only 4½ years after his brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated—and just two months after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been gunned down—America awoke on June 5, 1968, to read the horrifying news that another of the nation’s young leaders had been shot: Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He was shot three times by a Jordanian, Sirhan Sirhan, in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles right after giving a victory speech in the California Democratic presidential primary. Five others were wounded as well. read more...
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As the spring of 1862 turned into summer, Confederate fortunes in Tennessee continued to go badly. With a vital railroad link cut, the South decided to evacuate the strategic Mississippi River stronghold of Fort Pillow on June 4, leaving Memphis vulnerable to attack. Union forces pounced quickly. After a lopsided naval engagement on June 6 Memphis fell, remaining under Federal control for the rest of the war. read more...
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I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past fourteen years I have worked at NewsBank, six of those as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort that digitized and indexed twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my lifelong interest in American history. And that led me to editing this history blog!
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