This Day In History: June 8, 1949 On June 8, 1949, hugely popular screen idols, including Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield and Frederic March, were called out as Commies by the US Government. They based their conclusion on accusations by “confidential informants” coupled with some imaginative analysis. The first breadcrumb on the trail to Tinseltown was the Communist Party in […]

This Day In History: June 5, 1963 John Dennis Profumo was appointed Secretary of War by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1960. He had a good job with room for advancement, was married to retired actress Valerie Hobson, and together they were at the center of the fledgling Swinging ‘60s in-crowd. Life was good. One night at Lord “Bill” […]

This Day In History: June 4, 1798 “As well as good looks he possesses the rare gift of befriending women. He has the knack of addressing them as if they were his equals, and undressing them as if they were his superiors.” – Casanova biographer Judith Summers Giovanni Giacomo Casanova, whose name became forever synonymous with a smooth talking playboy, […]

This Day In History: June 3, 1780 Born on September 9, 1711, Thomas Hutchinson was the fifth generation of his family to live in New England. He was the great-great grandson of the infamous Anne Hutchinson, who had been expelled from the city of Boston for her radical religious views. Aside from his outspoken great-great grandma, his family had done […]

This Day In History: June 2, 1863 On June 2, 1863, three Union gunboats set sail up the Combahee River from Beaufort, South Carolina. The ships were able to avoid any confrontation with Confederate forces thanks to intelligence provided by a trusted Union spy known as “Moses.” The master of espionage “Moses” was none other than Harriet Tubman, the hero […]

This Day In History: June 1, 1967 ‘Sgt. Pepper is the one. It was a peak. Paul and I were definitely working together.” – John Lennon After years of touring and relentless media attention, the Beatles felt frustrated creatively. They were tired of wearing matching suits in front of throngs of screaming girls. None of them came to hear the […]

This Day In History: May 29, 1851 Sojourner Truth, abolitionist, orator, and women’s rights activist, delivered a ground-breaking speech on May 29, 1851, one of the first and most memorable of the fledgling suffragist movement. An emancipated slave, Sojourner believed the wrongs committed against both blacks and women by the US were “inextricably intertwined.” She never learned to read or […]

This Day In History: May 28, 1961 “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.” Peter Benenson – Founder of Amnesty International On May 28, 1961, The London Observer published […]

This Day In History: May 27, 1940 In late May 1940, Allied troops were trapped with their backs to the sea on the French beach at Dunkirk. While the Nazis planned to systematically decimate them, the Royal Navy hastily assembled an armada that set out on May 27, 1940. Dubbed Operation Dynamo, a rag-tag assortment of destroyers, rowboats, yachts, fishing […]

This Day In History: May 26, 1897 On May 26, 1897, Irish author Bram Stoker’s masterpiece Dracula was released for sale in London. Dracula was not only a sensation in its own right, but inspired a genre of horror that remains immensely popular today. But Bram Stoker certainly wasn’t the creator of vampire lore; the history of the blood-sucking undead […]

This Day In History: May 25, 1961 “I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” –JFK On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech before a joint session of Congress that put the United States […]

This Day In History: May 22, 1958 “They were looking for a place to stick the knife into rock & roll. And Jerry gave it to them—well, I did, I opened my mouth.” – Myra Lewis Williams As 1958 dawned, Jerry Lee Lewis was riding high. He’d recently had two huge hits with “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great […]

This Day In History: May 21, 1992 On May 21, 1992, 17-year-old Amy Fisher was arrested two days after shooting her lover’s wife on the porch of their home in Long Island, New York. The victim, though gravely injured, survived the attack and eventually forgave her assailant. When the sordid details of her affair with her much older, very married, […]

This Day In History: May 20, 1908 James Maitland Stewart, one of the most likable and versatile actors in motion picture history, was born on May 20, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He appeared in over 80 films during his long career. Stewart is most loved and fondly remembered for his various portrayals of Mr. Every Man, a simple, hard-working American […]

This Day In History: May 19, 1836 A very young Cynthia Ann Parker moved from Illinois to Texas by wagon train with members of her family in 1832. They built a civilian stockade around their settlement, located approximately 40 miles east of present day Waco, which came to be known as Parker Fort. Their solidly constructed protective barricade was supposedly […]

This Day In History: May 18, 1989 On May 18, 1989, an estimated one million Chinese protestors swarmed Tiananmen Square and the surrounding streets of Beijing demanding a democratic system of government. It was the largest popular demonstration in the 40-year history of communist China. Student-driven protests calling for democracy had begun in China a month before but ramped up […]

This Day In History: May 15, 1869 “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less!” – The Revolution On May 15, 1869, The National Woman Suffrage Association was formed in New York City. The group was the result of ideological and political disagreements between two factions of the suffrage movement, one difference being whether to support […]