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Paris liberated from Nazi occupation (1944), New York Sun publishes “Great Moon Hoax” (1835), US President Truman orders seizure of US railroads (1950), discovery of bacteria causing bubonic plague (1894), American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell killed (1967), Wizard of Oz movie premieres (1939), Galileo presents first telescope (1609), Voyager 2 makes closest flyby of Neptune (1989), US National Park Service established (1916), earthquake in Mao County, China kills 9,000 (1933).
Paris has been liberated from Nazi occupation. (1944) The “Battle for Paris” was fought from 19 August 1944 to today, when the Germans who had occupied the city for four years surrendered to the Allies.
The New York Sun has begun a six-article series on how life on the moon was discovered. (1835) In what became known as “The Great Moon Hoax,” the New York paper claimed the stories were reprints from the Edinburgh Journal of Science. The articles were intended as satire, but readers took it seriously. The paper eventually admitted to the hoax, which readers generally accepted with good humor.
US President Harry S. Truman ordered the seizure of US railroads by the US military to ward off an attack. (1950) Three unions – the Order of Railroad Conductors, the Brotherhood of Railwaymen and the Brotherhood of Firefighters and Locomotive Engineers – still went on strike. The strike ended 21 months later when the three unions accepted the terms of President Truman’s settlement and went back to work.
The infection that caused the bubonic plague has been discovered. (1894) Japanese physician Shibasaburo Kitasato discovered and identified the bacteria that caused the bubonic plague. The plague was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 25 million people, about a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century. The discovery of Kitasato occurred almost simultaneously with the discovery of the same bacteria by the Swiss doctor Alexandre Yersin.
The “American Hitler” was killed by a sniper. (1967) George Lincoln Rockwell was the leader of the American Nazi Party. He was killed by John Patler, a “Captain” of the American Nazi party. Patler was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder.
The Wizard of Oz movie premiered. (1939) The film, which would go on to become one of the most popular movies of all time, was based on a book by L. Frank Baum called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was one of the first films added to the National Film Registry, which only lists films that have cultural or historical significance.
Galileo Galilei presented his first telescope. (1609) Galileo developed a telescope with 3x magnification, which he later improved to 30x. His telescope became popular with merchants for trade and as a tool for captains at sea. He presented the first telescope to lawmakers in Venice, Italy.
NASA’s Voyager 2 space probe has made its closest flyby of Neptune. (1989) Neptune is the farthest planet in the Solar System, more than two billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2 returned the first close-up photos of the planet, along with shots of its satellite planets.
The US Department of the Interior established the US National Park Service. (1916) The service was created by an act of the US Congress called the National Park Service Organic Act. It is a federal agency that oversees the maintenance of US parks and national monuments.
An earthquake struck Mao County in China, killing 9,000 people. (1933) Diexi Town, Mao County, Sichuan Province was completely destroyed in what became known as the Diexi earthquake.
