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On this day in 1974, Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California by two black men and a white woman, all three of whom are armed. Her fiance, Stephen Weed, was beaten and tied up along with a neighbor who tried to help. Witnesses recalled seeing a struggling Hearst being carried away blindfolded and finally put in the trunk of a car. Neighbors who came out into the street were forced to take cover after the kidnappers fired their guns to cover their escape.
On this day in 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond is discovered during a routine inspection by the mine's superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened the "Cullinan," it was the largest diamond ever found.
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On this day in 1789, America's first presidential election is held. Voters cast ballots to choose state electors.
Only white men who owned property were allowed to vote. As expected, George Washington won the election—John Adamscame in second and became the first vice president and was sworn into office on April 30, 1789. Here is how Washington’s swearing in in was depicted in the HBO mini-series “John Adams”
On this day in 1968, Apollo 8 blasted its way through the earth's atmosphere to begin the first U.S. mission to orbit the moon—a mission that would set the stage for the first moon landing less than a year later. On board were astronauts Frank Borman, Milwaukee native Jim Lovell and William Anders. By Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 had begun to orbit the moon. Learn more.
The surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, by the Japanese precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The attack brought to a head a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. Japan’s invasion of China in 1937, its subsequent alliance with the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) in 1940, and its occupation of French Indochina in July 1941 prompted the United States to respond that same month by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and declaring an embargo on petroleum shipments and other and other goods.
In addition to commemorating the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor; Yesterday, December 6, Americans also celebrated the 147th anniversary (1865) of the ratification of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery in the United States.
“…But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.
"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
—President Kennedy, June 1963
Fifty years ago on this day, in what is now known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” which began on October 15, 1962, when U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval blockade on the Soviet sattelitenation and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.
The term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the WWII Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.
Monday, February 4, 2013 at 5:00 PM 
