This Day in History

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 30th. It’s a story that would have been right at home in the year 2020--on this day in 1954, the first modern instance of a meteorite hitting a human occurred in Alabama. The meteorite crashed through the roof of a house and into a living room, bounced off a radio and struck a woman on her hip. The victim, Elizabeth Hodges...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 29th. For decades, there has been speculation about what really happened on this day in 1981, when 43-year-old actress Natalie Wood drowned off the coast of California’s Catalina Island. Wood had been boating with her husband, actor Robert Wagner, at the time of her death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 28th. To country music fans, it’s sacred ground--the Grand Ole Opry began broadcasting live from Nashville, Tennessee, on this day in 1925. Originally called Barn Dance, the Saturday-night show featured folk music, fiddling and the relatively new genre of country-western music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 27th. It’s that time of year when it’s easy for anyone to put on a few extra pounds--even, apparently, the president. On this day in 1911, then-White House housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffrey wrote in her diary about a conversation she’d had with President William Howard Taft and his wife about the president’s ever-expanding wai...

Happy Thanksgiving, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 26th. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” That iconic line is from one of the most beloved films in Hollywood history, Casablanca, which premiered in New York City on this day in 1942. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 25th. London’s famed The Mousetrap is one of the many live events forced to close by the pandemic. But it’s still the longest-running play in history, and it all started on this day in 1952, when the murder-mystery written by novelist and playwright Agatha Christie opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. Learn more ab...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 24th. It was one of the most groundbreaking scientific works in history: On this day in 1859, “On the Origin of Species” by British naturalist Charles Darwin, was published. In it, Darwin argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 23rd. It’s no secret that Americans like beer. In fact, we drink more than 6 billion gallons of beer each year. But during Prohibition, beer was outlawed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 22nd. Americans who were alive on this day in 1963 can likely tell you exactly what they were doing when they found out that President John F. Kennedy had been shot while traveling through Dallas in an open convertible. He died 30 minutes later. Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 21st. Who shot J.R.? Forty years ago today, 350 million people worldwide tuned in to the prime time soap Dallas to find out. J.R. Ewing, the character fans loved to hate, had been shot on the season-ending episode the previous March, in what now stands as one of television’s most famous cliffhangers. Learn more about your...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 20th. It was a royal wedding to remember, but it wasn’t Charles and Diana’s or even Harry and Megan’s--on this day in 1947, a 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten. Mountbatten, a dashing prince of Greece and Denmark, renounced his titles in order to marry the English princess, who was heir to the Briti...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 19th. It was one of the most famous--and inspiring--speeches in American history: On this day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a cemetery for those killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. In the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary publi...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 18th. What time is it where you are? Well, before this day in 1883, that question was much more difficult to answer. That’s when American railroads begin using the four continental time zones. Before that most towns in the U.S. had their own local time, generally based on “high noon,” or the time when the sun was at its hi...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 17th. If you tune in to watch NFL football, you can usually rest assured that the game will be broadcast in its entirety, all thanks to what happened on this day in 1968. That night, the Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns in nine seconds to beat the New York Jets—but no one saw it, because they were watching the movie H...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 16th. Climb ev’ry mountain. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Do-re-mi. If these lyrics sound familiar, then you’re one of the millions of Americans who’s seen--or heard--The Sound of Music, which premiered on Broadway on this day in 1959. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 15th. For nearly a decade after declaring independence from Great Britain, the United States wasn’t governed by the Constitution, but by a vastly different document that was adopted on this day in 1777--the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 14th. If you’ve seen the film “We Are Marshall,” then you’re familiar with the tragic event that devastated the Marshall University community 50 years ago today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 13th. Studies show consumption of wine, beer, and liquor has risen as much as 30 percent during the pandemic, but we know wine making and drinking dates back at least 8,000 years. That’s what scientists discovered on this day in 2017, when earthenware jars holding residual wine compounds were found at two archaeological si...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 12th. Today, nearly 40 percent of all Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island. The immigration gateway processed more than 12 million immigrants between its opening in 1892 and this day in 1954, when it finally shut its doors. The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was a 15-year-old Irish girl named...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 11th. Today, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, marks the 102nd anniversary of the end of one of the most devastating conflicts in human history--World War I. That's when Germany signed an armistice with the Allies in a railroad car in northern France. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 10th. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Those were the famous words uttered by New York journalist Henry Morton Stanley on this day in 1871 upon finding Socttish explorer David Livingstone in Ujiji, in present day Tanzania, after a nearly 8 month long search. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 9th. It was the biggest power failure in U.S. history: On this day in 1965, the Great Northeast Blackout began when a power surge overwhelmed the transmission lines in western New York, which resulted in the eventual breakup of the entire Northeastern transmission network. All together, 30 million people in eight U.S. stat...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 8th. He was one of the Old West’s most colorful, and dangerous, figures: on this day in 1887, gunslinger, gambler, and occasional dentist Doc Holliday died of tuberculosis. Holliday left a successful dental practice in Dallas and drifted between the wild towns of the Old West, making his living at card tables and aggravati...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 7th. This year we’re celebrating 100 years of U.S. women voting, but even before the 19th amendment was passed, Jeannette Rankin of Wyoming became the first woman ever to win a seat in Congress on this day in 2016. A dedicated pacifist, Rankin’s first vote as a U.S. congresswoman was against U.S. entry into World War I. Le...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on November 6th. He remains one of America’s most admired presidents, and on this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th U.S. president on the eve of the Civil War. Though he received only 40 percent of the popular vote, he handily defeated the three other candidates in the race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...