This Week In American History

October 2 1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents, an anthology show of stories based in suspense and mystery, premiered. The 30 minute episodes are introduced and concluded by Hitchcock himself, frequently in...

September 25 1775 After aborting a poorly planned and ill-timed attack on the British-controlled city of Montreal, Continental Army Colonel Ethan Allen was captured by the British. After being identified as...

September 18 1793 George Washington laid the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. The building would take nearly a century...

   8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in...

September 11 2001 America was attacked when an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Then,...

September 4 1886 Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to U.S. government troops. For 30 years, the Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe’s homeland; however, by 1886 the Apaches were...

August 28 1774 Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City. Seton taught in order to support her family and believed in free education for all children, male and female....

August 21 1858 Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and one-time U.S. representative from Illinois, began a series of famous public encounters on the issue of...

August 14   1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees. FDR commended Congress for what he considered to...

August 7 1782 General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, created the “Badge for Military Merit,” a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk,...

July 31    1876 The first Coast Guard Academy, then called the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction, was established and held aboard the two-masted topsail schooner Dobbin. The first class...