On this day in 1780, General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss his handing the American military installation at West Point over to the British, in exchange for money and a high position in the British Army. The plan was uncovered, and Andre caught and executed, but Arnold escaped and later commanded British troops against the colonists, before settling in England and dying in 1801. On this day in 1942, the Boeing Company test flew its newest aircraft, the B-29 Superfortress, for the first time. The largest military plane ever built at the time, the Superfortress would not fly in combat until June, 1944. On this day in 1970, ABC debuts Monday Night Football. Keith Jackson, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell call the action as the Browns beat the Jets.
On this day in1980, Iraqi forces invaded Iran, launching the longest conventional war of the 20th century. The 2 nations accepted a UN-brokered cease fire in August 1988, which left the 2 nation's borders virtually unchanged On this day in 1985, Farm Aid is held in Champaign, Illinois. Inspired by Live Aid and organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Cougar Mellencamp, the megaconcert raises money to help struggling American farmers. Performers include Johnny Cash, Billy Joel and Bon Jovi. On this day in 1991, Huntington Library in California releases photocopies of the Dead Sea Scrolls, making one of the top archaeological finds of the 20th century available to the public for the first time.
On this day in 1779, the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeated the British ships Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the English coast. The Bonhomme Richard was severely damaged during the battle, but when the captain of the Serapis requested her surrender, Jones replied,"I have not yet begun to fight." Three hours later, the British surrendered. On this day in 1846, the planet Neptune is discovered. On this day in 1875, William Henry McCarty was arrested in New Mexico for stealing laundry. It is his first arrest, but McCarty managed to escape jail and headed further west. Before his death in 1881, McCarty would ring up an impressive rap sheet of robberies and cattle rustling. He also committed as many as 21 murders, historians are not sure of the exact number. They are sure he used more than one alias, most notably, William Bonney. Westerners of the day usually called him Billy the Kid. On this day in 1949, in a low-key statement, President Harry S. Truman announces that the Soviet Union has test exploded a nuclear device. The Cold War just got real.
On this day, George Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789, establishing the U.S. Supreme Court. On the same day, Washington also nominated John Jay as Chief Justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September 26, all six appointments were confirmed by the Senate. On this day in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt designates Devil's Tower, a 1,267-foot monolith of igneous rock in Wyoming, to be America's first National Monument. No extra terrestrials (that we know of) attend the ceremony. On this day in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0, in the final game at Brooklyn's historic Ebbets Field. It's the end of an era; a few months earlier, National League owners voted to allow both the Dodgers and the New York Giants to move to California. In fact, its a 2 or 0 deal; to help all teams handle the cost of West Coast trips, the owners said both teams must move or neither would be allowed to. The Giants quickly agreed, but Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, who had actually been in talks with LA officials for over a year, wouldn't make it official until October 8.
On this day in 1789, the first Congress of the United States ratifies 12 amendments to the Constitution, sending them to the states for ratification. Over the next 3 months, 10 of the amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified. One of the two rejected amendments would have made changes to how the population of the House of Representatives was determined. The second, which delayed laws that changed congressional salaries from taking effect until the next Congress, was finally ratified in 1992 as the 27th amendment. On this day in 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev concludes a 10-day visit to the US by meeting face to face with President Eisenhower. The two emerge from the meeting hopeful that relations between the 2 superpowers are warming, but things went cold again a year later when an American U2 spy plan is shot down over the USSR. The fallout from that incident causes Eisenhower to cancel a planned visit to Moscow. On this day in 1957, 9 black children attend their first full day of class in the previously-all white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The day culminates 3 weeks of civil unrest as the Little Rock School Board attempted to comply with SCOTUS orders that US schools be integrated. Governor Orville Faubus, a strict segregationist, used National Guard troops to prevent the black students from entering the school on previous occasions. The students would finally gain admission under armed guard of the US Army 101st Airborne Division, deployed by presidential order.
On this day in 1918, Allied troops launch a massive offensive against German troops occupying the Argonne Forest, the largest primarily American offensive of World War I. 37 divisions of American and French troops, supported by artillery and about 700 tanks, hit German troops who are already weakened by a flu epidemic. A month later, the Germans begin their final retreat before the end of the war. On this day in 1945, Lt. Col. Peter Dewey is shot and killed at a Viet Minh roadblock in Saigon. Dewey was an Army officer with the OSS, assigned to gather information about missing American pilots. Though World War II is already over, hostilities between the Viet Minh and French colonials are already brewing, and investigators conclude the soldiers manning the roadblock fired because they thought Dewey was French. Some consider Dewey to be the first American casualty of the Viet Nam War. On this day in 1969, Abbey Road is released. It is the Beatles' 11th studio album, and its recording sessions mark the last time the Fab Four would work together in studio before the band's breakup the following year. Let It Be will be their final album release, but most of its material was recorded before the Abbey Road sessions.
