This Week In American History

March 24 1965 The first “teach-in” was conducted at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; two hundred faculty members participate by holding special anti-war seminars. Regular classes were canceled,...

March 17 1776 British forces were forced to evacuate Boston following General George Washington’s successful placement of fortifications and cannons on Dorchester Heights, which overlooked the city from the south....

March 10 1876 The first discernible speech was transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying the now famous phrase,...

March 3 1845 Congress reins in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto, overriding it with the necessary two-thirds vote. This marked Congress’ first use of the Constitutional...

February 25 1836 Samuel Colt received US patent number 138 for a “revolving gun," later known as 9430X. His improvement in fire-arm design allowed a gun to be fired multiple...

February 18 1885 Mark Twain published his famous—and famously controversial—novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain first introduced Huck Finn as the best friend of Tom Sawyer, hero of his...

February 11 1916 Emma Goldman, a crusader for women’s rights and social justice, was arrested in New York City for lecturing and distributing materials about birth control. She was accused...

February 4   1789 George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, was unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential...

January 28 1915 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Coast Guard Act of 1915, which merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U.S. Life-Saving Service, and was officially renamed the Coast...

January 21 1950 In the conclusion to one of the most spectacular trials in U.S. history, former State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury. He was convicted of...

January 14 1954 Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero of the country’s national pastime captures the heart of the beautiful, glamorous...

January 7 1927 The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team travelled 48 miles west from Chicago to play their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. The Globetrotters were the creation of Abe Saperstein...