On This Day

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It has been a while since I last wrote a what happened on this day post. I have a few moments so I thought I would pop in and do one. 1797 André-Jacques Garnerin became the first person to make a parachute jump in Paris, France. He jumped from a hydrogen balloon about 3200 feet up in the air. In 1799, Garnerin’s wife, Jeanne-Genevieve, became the first female parachutist. 1879 In Menio Park, New Jersey inventor Thomas Edison was able to burn a light bulb for a few hours. 1884 Greenwich Mean Time known as GMT, was adopted in Washington, DC making 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich meridian. 1907 The Panic of 1907 happened on this day when the Knickerbocker Trust Company stock collapsed. Panic set in across the US causing the 8th-largest decline in U.S. stock market history. 1934 In East Liverpool, Ohio gangster Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot to death by FBI agents. He was 30 years old. 1962 President John F Kennedy address the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was believed that Russia, our enemy during the Cold War, had set up missile basis on the island located less than 400 miles from US soil. 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed into act the Highway Beautification Act. In it he wanted a limit on highway billboards, and junkyards removed or covered along the interstates. The bill also allowed funding for local efforts to clean up and landscape the green spaces on either side of the roadways. 2012 Winner of 7 Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005, cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of all his titles because he was caught using performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions. He also was guilty of demanding that some of his Tour teammates dope in order to help him win races. We sing happy birthday to Johann Reinhold Forster, German botanist and naturalist on James Cook's second Pacific voyage. Magnus Huss, Swedish physician who coined the word alcoholism and was the first to define it as a disease. Franz Liszt, Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist. Collis P. Huntington, American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad). Louis Riel, Canadian politician, founder of the province of Manitoba, and leader of the Metis people of the Canadian prairies. Joan Fontaine, British-American Academy Award-winning actress (Gunga Din; Ivanhoe) Christopher Lloyd, American actor (Taxi television, Back to the Future movies) Jeff Goldblum, American actor, (The Fly; Jurassic Park; Independence Day) Brian Boitano, American Figure Skater (Olympic men's singles gold 1988) Ichiro Suzuki, baseball right fielder (most career base hits 4,367; AL MVP 2001) We said goodbye to Ferdinand I, King of Portugal, age 37 Annie Jones, American bearded lady (P. T. Barnum circus), age 37 Bob Fitzsimmons, English boxer, age 54 Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, American Quaker orator, abolitionist, women's rights advocate, age 89 Cleavon Little, American actor (Blazing Saddles) age 53 Red Barber, American baseball broadcaster (Cincinnati Reds 1934–38, Brooklyn Dodgers 1939–53, NY Yankees 1954–66),age 84 Richard Mayes, British actor (Doctor Who) age 83