This Day in History

The Grand Canyon and the Grand Tetons share a historic anniversary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hiram Rhoads Revels made history as the first Black U.S. congressman on this day in 1870. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to face impeachment on this day in 1869. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A group of Pittsburgh schoolchildren received the very first polio vaccinations on this day in 1923. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drug trafficker El Chapo was finally arrested on this day in 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Human rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated on this day in 1965. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An American institution got its start on this day in 1792. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Benedict Arnold gets passed over for a promotion on this day in 1777. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pluto was discovered by French astronomers on this day in 1930. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Beach Boys hit Good Vibrations was recorded on this day in 1966. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 16th. Like it has so many other events, the Covid 19 pandemic has interrupted a planned four-year-long world tour of treasures from King Tut’s tomb. They’ve been an object of fascination since this day in 1923, when British archaeologist Howard Carter first entered the ancient pharaoh’s sealed burial tomb. Inside lay a sar...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 15th. The term “fake news” has been thrown around a lot over the past several years, but the concept isn’t necessarily new. On this day in 1898, the Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Cuba’s Havana Harbor, killing some 260 crew. Almost immediately, so-called yellow journalists published sensational headlines bl...

It’s said that when Roman emperor Claudius the Cruel banned marriage to encourage more men to join the army, Valentine continued to perform weddings. But the illicit ceremonies were discovered, and he was beheaded on this day in the year 278. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 13th. Dresden, Germany, was once known as one of the most beautiful cities in Western Europe, full of artistic and architectural treasures, but today it’s better known as the site of a massive Allied bombardment that took place on this day in 1945, as World War II was coming to a close. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 12th. Americans consistently rank our 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, as the greatest in American history, and on this day in 1809, Honest Abe was born in a log cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Lincoln was elected president at age 51, just before the outbreak of the Civil War. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated, seve...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 11th. Thirty-one years ago today, former South African president, Nobel Prize winner, and revered activist Nelson Mandela, the leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, was released after 27 years in prison. Mandela spent 18 of those years at the notoriously brutal Robben Island, where he was forced to do hard...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 10th. “All the News that’s Fit to Print”...If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s because it’s been printed on the front page of one of the country’s largest and most well-respected newspapers, The New York Times, since this day in 1897. The words were written by Adolph Ochs and started appearing in print soon after he bough...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 9th. In just over a month, it will be daylight saving time, that time of year most Americans love to hate. And on this day in 1942, at the suggestion of President Franklin Roosevelt, daylight saving time became the law of the land. It was World War II, and Roosevelt was hoping the move would help conserve energy needed for...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 8th. Winter snowstorms are nothing new to New Englanders, but the one that ended on this day in 1978 was one for the record books, dumping 55 inches of snow on parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island over three days. The blizzard whipped up powerful wind gusts of nearly 100 miles per hour, while 50-foot waves wiped out sea...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 7th. The British have given America Shakespeare, James Bond and Harry Potter, but none of these imports caused more of a sensation than the Beatles, who arrived in New York on this day in 1964. Three thousand screaming fans caused a near riot when the Fab Four stepped off the plane at JFK, just six days after the release o...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 6th. If British royals are making the news these days, it’s usually Meghan and Harry, but back on this day in 1952, it was 27-year-old Princess Elizabeth, who was crowned Queen Elizabeth I at just 27 years old. Elizabeth never expected to be queen. But when her uncle, King Edward VIII, gave up the throne to marry American...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 5th. In a case that echoed into the 21st century, Byron De La Beckwith finally was convicted of killing civil rights activist Medgar Evers on this day in 1994, more than 30 years after the tragic murder. Evers was gunned down in the driveway of his home, while his wife and three small children were inside. Learn more about...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 4th. On the heels of a contentious election, we look back to this day in 1789, when George Washington won his first election by a unanimous Electoral College vote. He repeated the feat to win a second term in 1792. Washington is the only president ever to have been unanimously elected. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 3rd. This day in 1959 is known as the day the music died, the anniversary of the day rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens were killed when the small plane Holly chartered to take them to their next tour date crashed during stormy winter weather. The musicians’ deaths...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 2nd. Today is Groundhog Day, which was first celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on this day in 1887. This unusual American holiday grew out of the German tradition of using hedgehogs to help predict the length of the winter. When German immigrants moved to Pennsylvania, they replaced hedgehogs, which are not native...