1942: Roosevelt Authorizes Internment of Japanese-Americans
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the military to relocate Japanese-Americans from their homes to internment...
1983: Reagan Delivers “Star Wars” Speech
On March 23, 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space and ground-based defense system to intercept...
1773: American Patriots Carry Out Boston Tea Party
On Dec. 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and destroyed their cargo of tea, taking another...
1995: Aum Shinrikyo Cult Releases Nerve Gas on Tokyo Subway
On March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released poisonous sarin gas on five Tokyo subway trains, killing 12 and injuring thousands.
Poisonous...
On This Day: United States Drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
On Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. war plane Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy,” a 8,900-pound atomic bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan. Within eight days, Japan surrendered,...
1820: The “Mayflower of Liberia” Sets Sail
On February 6, 1820, a ship of freed black slaves set sail from New York for the coast of West Africa, where they would...
44 B.C.: Julius Caesar Assassinated
On March 15, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators hoping to restore the Roman republic.
Caesar Murdered on the Ides...
1960: South African Police Open Fire on Crowd in Sharpeville Massacre
On March 21, 1960, South African police fired into a crowd of black protesters who had surrounded a police station in Sharpeville, killing 69...
On This Day: Bodies of Three Civil Rights Workers Discovered in Mississippi
On Aug. 4, 1964, the bodies of missing civil rights volunteers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were discovered in a dam outside...
1960: Earthquake Kills Thousands in Morocco
On February 29, 1960, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Agadir, Morocco. The 15-second event killed thousands and leveled parts of the city.
It was a...
