Browsing: Society

A Brief History On January 20, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first US president to be sworn in on January 20th, a date changed from the previous inauguration day of March 4th by the 20th Amendment of 1933.  Some other interesting presidential firsts on January 20th include: Digging Deeper Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first 5-star general sworn in as president in 1953, and the first born in Texas. John F. Kennedy, the youngest elected president, inaugurated in 1961. Ronald Reagan, inaugurated in 1981 as the oldest president up to that time. Barack Obama became the first African American president…

A Brief History On January 18, 2008, the Euphronios Krater, a bowl for mixing wine with water that dates back to around 515 BC, was unveiled in Rome, Italy after having been stolen from an Etruscan tomb in 1971 and then held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City since 1972. Digging Deeper Many other ancient or old items have been taken to foreign lands without the consent of their home country, and we ask, “Should these treasures be returned?”  Some of those items include: Panels and art from The Amber Room in Russia, looted by Germans during…

A Brief History On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as the President of Liberia, the first female to be elected head of state of any African country. Digging Deeper Sirleaf had previously served as the Minister of Finance for Liberia but had escaped to the US after a 1980 coup put Samuel Doe in charge.  Sirleaf was well acquainted with the US, having gone to college in the States, at Madison Business College, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Harvard. Apparently Sirleaf must have done a good job, for she was reelected in 2011 and served…

A Brief History On January 15, 1943, the largest “office” building in the world was dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia, the Pentagon, a building that would become the symbol of the American military. Digging Deeper With five floors above ground and another two underground, the Pentagon boasts over 6.6 million square feet of floorspace.  Not until 2023 would the Pentagon’s massive floorspace be eclipsed.  Its 17.5 miles of corridors get busy foot traffic 24/7, with a workforce of 23,000 military and civilian defense workers plus another 3,000 non-defense workers. The center area is a five-acre courtyard! Built at great effort…

A Brief History On January 14, 1969, we were once again reminded how navies around the world manage to make mistakes that cost lives and even entire ships.  This time, 28 lives were lost and 314 sailors injured, but the USS Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was not lost. Digging Deeper We have commented on naval disasters we call “Naval Oops Moments,” and this time the problem was a Zuni rocket under a jet’s wing that blew up.  The explosion destroyed that plane and caused a fire resulting in multiple explosions, destroying 15 jets and blowing holes in the deck.…