This Week In American History

January 21 1950 In the conclusion to one of the most spectacular trials in U.S. history, former State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury. He was convicted of...

January 14 1954 Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio. It was the ultimate All-American romance: the tall, handsome hero of the country’s national pastime captures the heart of the beautiful, glamorous...

January 7 1927 The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team travelled 48 miles west from Chicago to play their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. The Globetrotters were the creation of Abe Saperstein...

December 31 1879 In the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lit up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Although the first incandescent...

December 24 1812 The Treaty of Ghent was signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory...

December 17 1892 Arthur Baldwin Turnure first publishes Vogue, a new magazine dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life” and targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men...

December 10 1922 The Canton Bulldogs defeated the Toledo Maroons, 19-0, and are declared the first NFL champion. Canton finished the season 10-0-2, allowing 15 points and producing nine shutouts....

December 3 1818 Illinois became the 21st state. Due to the challenge of the prairies slowing emigration into the region, the population was only about 35,000 and most of the...

November 26 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. This followed the precedent set by President Abraham Lincoln in...

November 19 1863 At the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American...

November 12 1799 Andrew Ellicott, an early American astronomer, witnessed the Leonids meteor shower from a ship off the Florida Keys. Ellicott wrote in his journal that the “whole heaven appeared...

November 5 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States. Roosevelt’s decision to break the precedent set by George Washington was...