This Day in History

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 8th. With the U.S. national debt currently at more than $27 trillion and climbing, we look back to this day in 1835, when America's debt was completely paid off, a long-held goal of then-President Andrew Jackson. Jackson called the debt “a moral failing” and vetoed a number of spending bills throughout his tenure, putting a...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 7th. Crowds flock to the Leaning Tower of Pisa precisely because of its famous lean, but on this day in 1990, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public amidst fears it might topple over completely. Experts then spent 11 years and $27 million fortifying the tower without completely eliminating the tilt that made it...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 6th. These days telegrams are basically obsolete, but when inventor Samuel Morse demonstrated the technology for the first time on this day in 1838, they were revolutionary. The telegraph, which used electric impulses to transmit encoded messages over a wire, completely changed long-distance communication, reaching the heig...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 5th. Late last year, news broke that the U.S. divorce rate had hit a 50-year low, with only 14.9 marriages out of every 1,000 ending in divorce. But even with this record decline, divorce was a lot more rare way back on this day 1643. That’s when Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony divorced her absent--and adulterou...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 4th. On this day in 1853, Solomon Northup finally legally obtained his freedom after being enslaved for 12 years. Northup was born a free man in 1807 in upstate New York. A talented fiddler, Northup was convinced by two circus performers to join their troupe, but then was drugged and sold into slavery in New Orleans. Learn...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 3rd. There have been more than 40 women inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since this day in 1987, when Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, became the very first. Franklin is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million albums while winning 18 Grammy Awards. Franklin’s Hall...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 2nd. With President-elect Joe Biden promising to hire a diverse staff that, as he says, “looks like America,” we look back to this day in 1890, when President Benjamin Harrison hired Alice Sanger as the White House’s first-ever paid female staffer. Sanger, a skilled stenographer, served as presidential secretary to Harrison...

Happy New Year, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 1st. More than a century and a half after his death, Abraham Lincoln remains one of our most admired presidents--thanks in large part to what he did on this day in 1863. That’s when Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, calling on the Union Army to free all slaves in states still in rebellion. Learn m...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 31st. New Year’s Eve looks a little different this year, but the ball drop in New York City is still on, albeit without an audience. As you say goodbye to 2020 and watch the brightly lit ball descend tonight, you might take a minute to thank Thomas Edison, who made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light b...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 30th. Though it lasted less than 70 years, it had an enormous impact on world history: On this day in 1922, the USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was established. The new state was the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 29th. Today marks 130 years since the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry killed 146 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee on the PIne Ridge reservation in South Dakota. The cavalry initially surrounded a group of Lakota and demanded they surrender their weapons. As this was happening, a fight broke out between one of the Lakota and a U.S. sol...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 28th. The humpback whale. The bald eagle. The gray wolf. What do all these animals have in common? Their survival was ensured by the Endangered Species Act, which was signed into law on this day in 1973. The act, which was championed by President Richard Nixon, is considered one of the most significant and successful envir...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 27th. If you’ve ever dreamed about life in Neverland with Wendy, Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys, then you know the story of Peter Pan by British author JM Barrie. Years before Peter Pan was adapted into a book, it was written as a stage play, which was first performed in London on this day in 1904. Learn more about your ad c...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 26th. If you’re celebrating Kwanzaa today, you’re taking part in a tradition that dates back to this day in 1966. That’s when the very first Kwanzaa was celebrated in Los Angeles under the direction of Cal State professor Maulana Karenga. The seven-day holiday was designed by Dr. Karenga as a celebration of African America...

Merry Christmas, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 25th. It’s a reminder that the holiday spirit can persist even in the toughest of times: Just after midnight on Christmas 1914, during World War I, the majority of German troops stopped firing their guns and artillery and began to sing Christmas carols. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/a...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 24th. It’s become a beloved annual tradition, and it all began on this day in 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge lit the first national Christmas tree ever to grace the White House grounds. Not only was this the first White House “community” Christmas tree, but it was the first to be decorated with electric lights–a stra...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 23rd. If you know anything about Vincent Van Gogh, you likely know what happened on this day in 1888. That’s when the Dutch painter, suffering from severe depression, cut off the lower part of his ear with a razor. He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Learn more about your ad...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 22nd. It was an exciting day for animal lovers around the world: on this day in 1956, the Columbus Zoo in Ohio welcomed Colo, the first-ever gorilla born in captivity. Colo was a western lowland gorilla who weighed just about 4 pounds at birth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 21st. YouTube is the world’s second most popular website, after Google, with more than 2 billion users each month. Most of the site’s most popular videos are music videos, just like the one that became the first video to hit 1 billion views on this day in 2012--Gangnam Style by the Korean rapper Psy. The video’s success ma...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 20th. Just last month, a lock of Elvis Presley’s hair sold for some four thousand pounds at auction in the UK. Decades after his death, Elvis still has a remarkable fan base, and most people have heard hits like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Hound Dog.” But they may not know that Elvis was also a U.S. army veteran, who received...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 19th. Most Americans are familiar with the July 1969 footage of the Apollo lunar landing, when NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. But you might not know that the Apollo program continued for another three years. On this day in 1972, Apollo 17 became the last of America’...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 18th. Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November since 1941, but it was actually on this day all the way back in 1777 that Americans celebrated the first day of national thanksgiving. That first celebration was held in honor of the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga. Learn...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 17th. Prior to the pandemic, nearly 3 million people flew in and out of America’s airports each day. That number would likely have astonished Orville and WIlbur Wright, who made their famous first flight on this day in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. That flight--the first made in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air c...

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 16th. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that just because something seems improbable, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The same adage would apply to the tragedy that unfolded on this day in 1960 over the skies of New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on December 15th. The leaning tower of Pisa is one of Italy’s most famous tourist attractions, but between 1990 and this day in 2001 it was closed to the public, as a team of experts spent 11 years and $27 million to fortify the tower without eliminating its famous lean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...