On Nov. 7, 1916, Congress—and the entire nation—forever changed when Montana’s Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Women at that time did not have universal suffrage—the 19th Amendment, granting all American women the right to vote, was passed by Congress in 1919 but did not become law until it was ratified on Aug. 26, 1920. read more...
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John Willis Menard is not a familiar name, even to most historians, but on Nov. 3, 1868, he nearly achieved something that would have secured his name in the nation’s history: first African American elected to Congress. This near-historic event occurred in the confusing world of Reconstruction politics in post-war Louisiana. James Mann, the white Democratic congressman representing Louisiana’s Second Congressional District, died before his term expired. Accordingly, during the presidential election of Nov. 3, 1868, Louisiana citizens also voted for a replacement for Mann. read more...
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NewsInHistory is continually adding more content to our historical newspapers 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 23 newspapers from 17 states. A total of 4,183 issues have been added in this release! Here are the details:
Connecticut
Columbian Register (New Haven). 36 issues: 1836 to 1876
Georgia read more...
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Congress passed the Volstead Act on Oct. 28, 1919, which defined “intoxicating liquors” to reinforce the Eighteenth Amendment, making Prohibition the law of the land. Formally called the “National Prohibition Act,” the Volstead Act was named for Andrew Volstead, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who sponsored the legislation. However well intentioned, Prohibition turned out to be a disaster for the United States as organized crime flourished, taking over the now-illegal business of manufacturing, transporting and selling liquor. read more...
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Almost from their inception, the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) were greeted with mistrust and persecution by their neighbors. This led to their exodus from New York (where they formed their first church in April 1830), then Ohio, then Missouri. Animosity and violence between Mormons and their neighbors in northwestern Missouri became so great in 1838 that historians have referred to this as the “Mormon War,” and it culminated with a shocking government act. On Oct. 27, 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. read more...
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The American victory during the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, which ended Oct. 26, 1944, was the final blow that destroyed the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the biggest naval battle in history, more than 300 warships and 1,800 planes fought a series of battles to determine the fate of the Japanese stronghold on the Philippine islands. When the fighting was over, the Americans had achieved a resounding victory and the Japanese navy ceased to be a viable force for the remainder of the war. read more...
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On Oct. 20, 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of 24 to 7. With this one treaty the United States nearly doubled in size, acquiring 828,800 square miles from France for only $15 million—an astonishing bargain at less than 3 cents per acre. All or part of 15 current states were acquired, the port of New Orleans was secured, and France’s ambitions in North America were ended (Napoleon, preoccupied with European concerns, was quite amenable to this). With all these advantages, why was the Senate vote not unanimous? read more...
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It almost seemed like a political advertising campaign gone awry—but one no consultant would ever dare propose. When Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party to run for a third term as president in 1912, it became known as the “Bull Moose Party” after he declared: “I’m as fit as a bull moose.” Then, thanks to a would-be assassin’s bullet, Roosevelt got the chance to back up that claim. read more...
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On this day in 1903, the Boston Americans (later the Red Sox) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win Major League Baseball’s first “World’s Championship Series.” The contest between the Pirates, champions of the established National League, and the Americans, champions of the upstart American League, was a best-of-nine series. Even though the favored Pirates won three of the first four games, the Americans came storming back, winning the last four games in a row to take the championship five games to three. read more...
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When a race riot erupted aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk the night of Oct. 12-13, 1972, while the ship was on combat duty in the Tonkin Gulf during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy knew it had a problem. A casualty toll of 46 injured sailors—3 of them hurt seriously enough to require medical evacuation—drove home the point. The problem was confirmed four days later, when another racial “incident” occurred aboard the fleet oiler USS Hassayampa in Subic Bay, Philippines. 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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