Video: 'Biography of Barack Obama: Life and Accomplishments'
(Friday, August 4, 1961, 7:24 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time) — Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States who served from 2009 to 2017, was born Barack Hussein Obama II today at the old Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital at 1611 Bingham Street in Honolulu, Hawaii. Continue reading U.S. President Barack Obama born in Honolulu 60 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Aug 4 1961)
Video: 'President John F. Kennedy Report to the Nation, Berlin Crisis, 25 July 1961'
(Tuesday, July 25, 1961, 10:00 p.m. EDT; during the Berlin Crisis of 1961, part of the Cold War) — During a nationwide address on American television and radio, U.S. President John F. Kennedy said tonight if the Soviet Union attempted to take control of West Berlin, then the United States would be prepared to go to war, even at the risk of nuclear annihilation. Continue reading U.S. will fight for Berlin, President Kennedy warns Russia 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 25 1961)
Video: 'President Nixon Announces Trip to China'
(Thursday, July 15, 1971, 7:30 p.m. PDT) — U.S. President Richard Nixon shocked the world by announcing on live television tonight from Burbank, California, that he had accepted an invitation to become the first U.S. president to visit the People’s Republic of China, after being invited by China’s Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. Continue reading President Nixon accepts invitation to visit Communist China 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 15 1971)
Video: '7/7/81: 1st Female High Court Justice'
(Tuesday, July 7, 1981, 10:54 a.m. EDT) — President Ronald Reagan announced today that he would nominate Sandra Day O’Connor, a 51-year-old judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading Sandra Day O’Connor nominated to become the first female justice on U.S. Supreme Court 40 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 7 1981)
Video: 'Did You Know: Abraham Lincoln's First Vice President'
(Independence Day, Saturday, July 4, 1891, 8:15 p.m. local time) — Hannibal Hamlin, the 15th vice president of the United States from 1861 to 1865 during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, which included all but the last month of the American Civil War, died tonight in Bangor, Maine. He was 81. Continue reading Former U.S. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, 81, dies in Bangor, Maine 130 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 4 1891)
Video: 'The American Presidents: James Monroe'
(Independence Day, Monday, July 4, 1831, at about 3:15 p.m. local time) — James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825, died today at his son-in-law’s home at 63 Prince Street at Lafayette Place in New York City from heart failure and tuberculosis. He was 73. Continue reading Former U.S. President James Monroe, 73, dies in New York City 190 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 4 1831)
Video: 'The Assassination of James Garfield'
(Saturday, July 2, 1881, 9:30 a.m. local time; during the Assassination of James A. Garfield) — U.S. President James A. Garfield, on his way to his alma mater Williams College, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech before beginning his summer vacation, was shot today at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Continue reading U.S. President James A. Garfield fatally shot by disappointed and delusional office seeker 140 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 2 1881)
Video: 'Freedom of the Press: New York Times v. United States'
(Wednesday, June 30, 1971, 2:30 p.m. EDT; New York Times Co. v. United States) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers could publish articles based on the then-classified Pentagon Papers on the origins of the Vietnam War, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint. Continue reading Supreme Court allows publication of top-secret ‘Pentagon Papers’ history of Vietnam War 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 30 1971)
Video: 'Top News Story June 27, 1991'
(Thursday, June 27, 1991, 1:00 p.m. EDT) — U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, 82, the first Black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court and a living hero of the civil rights movement, announced his retirement today after 24 years. Continue reading Justice Thurgood Marshall retires from U.S. Supreme Court in blow to progressives 30 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 27 1991)
Video: 'Was President Zachary Taylor POISONED?'
(Monday, June 17, 1991) — The remains of Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, were delicately removed today from the crypt in which he was entombed at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, to prove or disprove rumors he was killed by arsenic poisoning (click here for video of the exhumation beginning at 2:02). Continue reading Remains of U.S. President Zachary Taylor exhumed to determine if he was poisoned 30 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 17 1991)
