This day in history...

On this day in 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman from Montgomery, AL, is arrested for violating a recently-passed city ordinance that requires blacks to sit at the back of public busses, and also to give up their seats to white riders if the front of the bus filled up. Contrary to the popular legend that says Parks was simply suffering from sore feet at the end of a long day, Parks was a member of the NAACP and had been privy to meetings in which some sort of protest of the new ordinance was discussed. She did, however, make the spontaneous decision to make a stand by sitting. Within 4 days, the NAACP had rallied local blacks to boycott public mass transit. The ordinance was struck down by SCOTUS the following November.

On this day in 1959, twelve nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign the Antarctica Treaty, which bans military activity and weapons testing on that continent. It is the first arms control agreement of the Cold War.

On this day in 1913, the Ford Motor Company activates its moving assembly line. Overnight, the time needed to construct a Model T from start to finish goes from more than 12 hours to about 2 1/2 hours.

 

On this day in 2001, the Enron Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, sparking one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history. The Houston-based energy-trading company was formed in 1985 as the merger of two gas companies, and rose as high as number seven on the Fortune 500. But over the past year, Enron’s stock price began a dramatic slide. As prices fell, CEO and Chairman of the Board Kenneth Lay sold large amounts of his Enron stock, while simultaneously encouraging Enron employees to buy more shares and assuring them that the company was on the rebound. Employees saw their retirement savings accounts wiped out as Enron’s stock price continued to plummet. By the end of the year, Enron’s collapse had cost investors billions of dollars, wiped out some 5,600 jobs and liquidated almost $2.1 billion in pension plans. Lay was charged with 11 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, but died while awaiting trial.

On this day in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, emperor of France. Legend has it that as Pope Pius VII raised the crown to place it on his head, Napoleon took the crown from the pope and crowned himself. He is the first French emperor in over a thousand years and is considered one of the great military strategists of all time, but he will be unseated from power and exiled within 7 years.

On this day in 1823, President James Monroe proclaims a new U.S. foreign policy initiative that becomes known as the "Monroe Doctrine." Primarily the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in future European conflicts. Future presidents would invoke the Monroe Doctrine during the nation's expansion across the continent throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is not until the Spanish-American War in 1898 that the United States declared war against a European power over its interference in the American hemisphere. But it also ensures an isolationist position for the nation's next 90 years, until the two world wars of the 20th century draw America into its new role as a major global power.

 

On this day in 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. American researchers have been developing the technique by transplanting animal hearts in humans over the last decade and a half, but Barnard is the first to transplant a human heart. The recipient, a 53-year old grocer, survives only 18 days, because the drugs used to prevent his immune system from rejecting the new heart leave him vulnerable to disease, and he catches pneumonia. Within a decade, better anti-rejection drugs will increase the life span of transplant recipients to five years.

On this day in 1984, the worst industrial accident in history occurs in Bhopal, India. An explosion at the Union Carbide pesticide plant kills about 2,000 people. A cloud of toxic gas envelops the city, causing illness in about 200,000 residents. A chain of equipment failures and human errors are to blame. Most noteworthy, the plant supervisor decides dealing with the initial leak of methyl isocyanate can wait until after he's had his evening cup of tea.

On this day in 1979, eleven people are killed rushing into Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, to get to general admission seating spots for the night's concert from The Who. Its the latest incident of injuries involving so-called "festival seating" at the arena, and many venues around the US have already begun discontinuing the practice in favor of reserved seating. Fearing a possible riot, officials allowed the concert to go on as planned; band members were told about the incident several hours after the show. The city banned festival seating following this show, but lifted the ban in 2003 thanks to improved crowd control techniques implemented by local police.

 

On this day in 1783, General George Washington summons his officers to Fraunces Tavern in New York City to inform them that he will be resigning his commission and returning to civilian life. Washington had led the army through six long years of war against the British before the American forces finally prevailed at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Observers of the intimate scene at Fraunces Tavern described Washington as “suffused in tears,” embracing his officers one by one after issuing his farewell. Washington returned to his beloved estate at Mount Vernon, VA where he planned to live out his days as a gentleman farmer, but he was coaxed out of retirement in 1789 to run for President.

On this day in 1956, "Million Dollar Quartet" is recorded at Sun Records in Memphis TN. Rockabilly star Carl Perkins was recording that day when up-and-coming rocker Jerry Lee Lewis entered the studio. Later they were joined by Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, and an impromptu jam session commenced. An article about the session was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar that day, but the recording was shelved until 1981, when it was released in Europe with 17 tracks. A few years later more tracks were discovered and released as The Complete Million Dollar Session. In 1990, the recordings were finally released in the United States as Elvis Presley - The Million Dollar Quartet.


On this day in 1991, Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days - about 6 and a half years - in captivity. Anderson was chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press. He was kidnapped March 16, 1985, on a west Beirut street while leaving a tennis court. The kidnapping was linked to Hezbollah, who seized several Americans, including Anderson, soon after Kuwaiti courts jailed 17 Shiites found guilty of bombing the American and French embassies there in 1983. Eager to win favor from the U.S. in order to promote its own economic goals, Iran used its influence in Lebanon to engineer the release of nearly all the hostages over the course of 1991. Anderson returned to the U.S. and was reunited with his family, including his daughter Suleme, born three months after his capture. In 1999, he sued the Iranian government for $100 million, accusing it of sponsoring his kidnappers; he received a multi-million dollar settlement.