This day in history - May 31

[seamusTX]

1678 - Lady Godiva made her famous ride through Coventry to protest taxes

1889 - More than 2,000 people died in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood, one of the worst documented disasters in the U.S. up to that time.

1910 - Glen Curtis flew from Albany to New York City, a distance of 137 miles. He won a challenge to make the first long-distance flight between two major cities in the U.S. for a $10,000 prize offered by publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

1913 - The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of senators, was ratified.

1919 - Various "this day in history" sites record this date as the anniversary of the first wedding held in an aircraft, over Houston. However, I can't find details of this event.

1927 - The last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line.

1928 - The Southern Cross airplane, piloted by Charles Kingsford-Smith, took off from Oakland, California, in a flight that ended in Australia. It was the first flight across the Pacific.

1977 - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was completed.

Predictions of environmental disaster did not pan out.

1989 - Speaker of the House Jim Wright, Democrat from the 12th District of Texas (Ft. Worth) resigned due to an ethics scandal.

He was the first of a series of speakers to meet such a fate in the 1980s and 90s (cf. Foley, Gingrich).

- Jim

[bryang]

I'm glad we just had an Tea Party the other day and not a Godiva party!!

The $10,000 dollar prise for the flight from Albany to New York City was a pretty large sum for 1910.

Another busy day in history, thanks Jim.

-geo

[Oldgringo]

I don't reckon ethics, or lack thereof, in the government is any big deal anymore?

[seamusTX]

In 1955, the infamously corrupt Chicago alderman Paddy Bauler said, "Chicago ain't ready for reform." It still isn't, and neither is Washington.

- Jim

[timdsmith72]

I don't reckon ethics, or lack thereof, in the government is any big deal anymore?

One look at the "President" and his record is all you need to answer this question.