This day in history - May 31
Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:59 pm
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
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