23 August marks the date in 1927 on which Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Massachusetts. The pair were Italian immigrants, Sacco worked as a shoemaker and Vanzetti was a fish peddler. Both …
American History
One Day This War is Going to End
It was on 15 August, in 1979, that the film ‘Apocalypse Now’ made its debut to the American movie-going public. The film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, focuses on an Army Captain, played by Martin …
A Dramatic Farewell
On 12 August, 1980, US Senator Edward M. ‘Ted’ Kennedy appeared at that podium of the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Kennedy had spent the summer campaigning against incumbent President Jimmy Carter for …
A City in Flames
It was on 28 July, 1932, after local police had failed to drive them out, that mechanized and mounted units of the US Army invaded an encampment of unemployed Veterans of the First World War, …
Indictment
It was on 25 July, in 1974 that Barbara Jordan, a Democrat from Texas, spoke to her fellow members of the House Judiciary Committee as they debated the Impeachment of President Nixon. Jordan began her …
Wallace ’48
It was on 23 July, in 1948, that the Progressive Party opened it’s Presidential nominating Convention in Philadelphia, PA. The Party had been formed in response to what were viewed as the anti-New Deal policies …
Fear and Loathing in Louisville
18 July marks the birthday of Hunter S. Thompson in 1937. Thompson would be known as a pioneer in what was termed, ‘gonzo journalism’, which in part was typified by colorful anecdotes, often involving the …
Au H20
It was on this day, 13 July, in 1964 that the Republican National Convention opened in San Francisco. The eventual nominee would be Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who would go on to lose in a …
A Prophet In His Own Country
On 4 July, 1865, just a few months after the conclusion of the Civil War, James A. Garfield, the future 20th President of the United States, then serving as a US Congressman, said in a speech …
The Italian Eagle
It was on 30 June, 1933, that Italian aviator Italo Balbo took flight with a squadron of 24 Savoia-Marchetti SM.55X flying boats in a historic transatlantic crossing from Rome to Chicago. He would land on …