On this date in 1690 the colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas. In 1913 the 16th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, authorizing the federal government to collect income taxes. In between in 1870 the 15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race – though in practical terms that was not secured throughout the nation until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In space news 1966 the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft land on the moon and take pictures from the surface. The US would safely land a manned mission to walk on the moon 3 1/2 years later. In 1984 the US began its Space Shuttle program and in 1995 astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a shuttle mission.
In 1716 a 7.0 earthquake rocked Algiers, Algerian killing over 20,000 people. In 1959 an airplane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, rocked the music taking the lives of Buddy Holly, J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson, and a young Richie Valens (only 19), become known as “the day the music died” – referenced in Don McLean’s “American Pie”.
We welcomed into our world on this date the musical talents of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809), the writings of Horace Greeley (1811 – go west young man), and Gertrude Stein (1874), as well as the painters touch of Norman Rockwell (1894 -Saturday Evening Post), and the generational epic novels of James Michener (1907).
We welcomed the man who would give us a technique to safe choking diners – 1920 Henry Heimlich. And the sports world got richer through the talents born on this date of three football standouts – Fran “Frantic Fran” Tarkenton of the Minnesota Vikings (1940), Bob Griese – still the only quarterback to lead and undefeated team – the 1972 Miami Dolphins (1945), and John Jefferson (1956) who I saw play with both the Arizona Sun Devils and the San Diego Chargers – the team led by former Oregon quarterback Dan Fouts who would have won a Super Bowl in they could have found a defense to match Air Coryell.
And we said goodbye on this date to the printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg (1468), the Irish painter and illustrator John Butler Yeats(1922), and the president who “kept us out of war” and then got us into and through WWI – Woodrow Wilson (1924).
All in all a date unique, as all are, and not just a repeat – despite being the day after Groundhog Day.
Leave a Reply