On this day in 1956, with 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower presiding, General Motors opens its modern “Technical Center” in the unlikely burg of Warren, Michigan. The campus has been the center of the company’s design, innovation and engineering efforts since its inauguration, housing up to 22,000 employees. In 2000 it was listed on the […]
Category: History
Madeleine Albright – a Force to be Reckoned With
On this day in 1937, the first woman US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, is born in Prague; her name at birth was Marie Jana Korbelová. The daughter of Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, Albright fled to England with her family after the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. Though Albright long believed they had fled for […]
Frank Sinatra Cool
On this day in 1998, Francis Albert Sinatra, the first bona fide superstar in American popular music, succumbs to a heart attack in Los Angeles, CA. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers with Tommy Dorsey and others, meeting great success in the ’40s, […]
The Battle for Texas
On this day in 1846, Congress declares war on Mexico at the request of newly-minted President James K. Polk. The conflict centered on the independent Republic of Texas, which had opted to join the United States after establishing its independence from Mexico a decade earlier. The new president wanted Texas as part of the United […]
Justice Blackmun Moderate to Liberal
On this day in 1970, the US Senate confirms President Richard M. Nixon’s nomination of Federal Circuit Judge Harry A. Blackmun to the US Supreme Court. Known principally for his lead opinion in the landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade, Blackmun served for 24 years on the SCOTUS with a string of equally surprising holdings. […]
Bob Marley
On May 11, 1981, Bob Marley passes away from terminal cancer in Miami, FLA. Born February 6, 1945, in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, Marley and his friends formed the Wailing Wailers 1963; their big break came in 1972 when they landed a contract with Island Records. Marley went on to sell more than 20 million […]