On this day in 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating unemployment insurance and pension insurance for the elderly.
On this day in 1965, the USS George Washington Carver, the first nuclear-powered ship named after an African-American, set sail from Newport News, Virginia. In June 1991, after completing 73 strategic deterrent patrols carver, the ship began a new career as a fast attack submarine in the Pacific Fleet. She was finally decommissioned on March 18, 1993 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.
On this day in 1973, the United States stopped bombing Cambodia, officially ending 12 years of U.S. combat operations in Indochina.
On this day in 1980, Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten was murdered by her estranged husband, Paul Snyder, who later committed suicide.
On this day in 1995, Shannon Richey Faulkner was formally inducted as the first female cadet in the history of The Citadel Military Academy in South Carolina. She left the school one week later, along with 29 others.
On this day in 1997, the unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. He was executed by lethal injection at 8:14 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, June 11, 2001.
On this day in 1998, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that the Food and Drug Administration had no authority to regulate tobacco.
On this day in 2000, Valujet was ordered to pay $11 million in fines and damages for violating hazardous waste laws in a 1996 plane crash that killed 110 people.
On this day in 2010, the first Youth Olympic Games officially began in Singapore.
On this day in 2015, the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, reopened after being closed 54 years ago.
On this day in 2017, President Donald Trump condemned racist violence at the White House after being criticized for his previous response to the violence in Charlottesville.
Today in 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury concluded a two-year investigation alleging that 300 “predator priests” had abused more than 1,000 children over a 30-year period and that Catholic leaders covered it up.
- World Meditation Day 2024: The Emotional Growth Benefits of Mindfulness for Kids - December 21, 2024
- Bryson DeChambeau will make international history in his first tournament of the year - December 21, 2024
- Disney’s ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’: Who Is the Voice of the Legendary King? - December 21, 2024