On February 1, 1865, Abraham Lincoln affixed his signature to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, completing the final executive step in abolishing slavery throughout the nation. The act itself—quiet, procedural, and almost anticlimactic—belied the enormity of its meaning. With a few…
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On February 1, 2003, the world watched in shock as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, tragically killing all seven astronauts aboard. The disaster occurred just 16 minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, marking…
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As war raged across Europe, America knew it needed to find its “voice.” Amidst the throes of World War II, the United States government recognized the need for a propaganda tool to counteract the misinformation spread by Axis powers. Voice of America began its…
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On January 31, 1865, Robert E. Lee was appointed general-in-chief of all Confederate armies, a decision that came during the final, desperate months of the American Civil War. By this point, the Confederacy was struggling against relentless Union advances, and its military situation was…
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On January 31, 1943, the German military catastrophe at Stalingrad reached its irrevocable conclusion. That day, Friedrich Paulus, commander of Germany’s Sixth Army, surrendered the southern pocket of his trapped forces to the Soviet Red Army. Two days later, the remaining German units in…
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On January 30, 1862, in the depths of the American Civil War, a vessel unlike any the world had ever seen slid into the waters of New York Harbor. The USS Monitor, squat, low-slung, and almost unsettling in appearance, marked a decisive break with…
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On January 30, 1835, a startling event took place in Washington, D.C., marking the first recorded assassination attempt against a sitting U.S. president. Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, became the target of an attack by Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter. The dramatic…
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On January 29, 1886, a German engineer named Karl Benz quietly filed a patent that would help remake the modern world. The document, submitted to the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin, described a “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” It carried little fanfare at…
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Charles Curtis made history on January 29, 1907, becoming the first Native American to serve in the United States Senate. A member of the Kaw Nation, Curtis’s extraordinary career was marked by his dedication to public service, his advocacy for Native American issues, and…
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On January 27, 1820, at the outer edge of the known world, a Russian naval expedition pressed south through ice-choked seas and altered humanity’s map of the planet. Commanded by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, the voyage approached what is now…
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