A Brief History On November 4, 1924, the citizens of Wyoming took the historic step of electing the first woman governor of any state in the United States. This event should not have been too much of a surprise, as Wyoming was also the first state to allow women to vote on December 10, 1869, a date that is celebrated in Wyoming as “Wyoming Day.” Furthermore, in 1889, Wyoming passed a state constitution that specifically stated that women had the right to vote, the first such clause in any constitution in world history. Digging Deeper So, who exactly was the…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On November 3, 1954, Godzilla, the giant fire-spewing, dinosaur-like dragon, born of nuclear bomb tests, emerged from the sea and onto the silver screen to ravage Japan. Digging Deeper When the first Godzilla movie hit the theaters, it was a sensation. By today’s standards, though, the special effects are laughable. A man in a monster suit walking around scale model buildings and cars is what passed for high tech in those days, but Japanese audiences loved the film and its anti-nuclear undertones. In 1956, the film made it to the United States in the heavily Americanized version Godzilla, King of the…
A Brief History On November 2, 1957, the North Texas prairie town of Levelland (population around 10,000 at the time) was the scene of one of the better documented UFO incidents. Numerous witnesses reported seeing an extremely bright object, often described as egg shaped and 100 feet long, often at or near the ground. Digging Deeper Among the witnesses were many credible people, including the fire chief and the local sheriff. Some witnesses reported that the bright object landed or hovered on the road in front of their cars, causing the cars to experience electrical and motor problems such as dashboard gauges going wild,…
A Brief History On November 1, 1951, the U.S. military conducted Operation Buster-Jangle in which U.S. soldiers were exposed to atomic explosions in Nevada so that the effects could be studied. Nobody asked the soldiers for consent, and many of them were probably draftees as well. 6,500 of these unfortunate men were used in 7 separate explosions, 5 of which were above ground (atmospheric), and the remaining 2 were underground (“cratering”). Of course, the men were lied to about the “safety” of these tests, and they were exposed to harmful radiation from inhaling radioactive dust and marching on irradiated ground. Over the years, the U.S.…
A Brief History On October 31, 1968, in a political move intended to help Hubert Humphrey win the Presidential election, President Lyndon Johnson made an announcement that became known as “The October Surprise,” in which he stated that all bombardment of North Viet Nam would be halted. The reason publicly given for this halt was that North Viet Nam had supposedly shown good faith in negotiations toward ending the Viet Nam War. Since then, the term “October Surprise” has been used to describe news events that have been deliberately created to influence the outcome of elections, in particular the U.S. presidency. Digging…