Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, the Titanic sank, insulin became available, Lincoln was assassinated, McDonald’s opened, and Fidel Castro visited the US. Malta was awarded the George Cross, Rand McNally published its first road atlas, and General Electric was incorporated.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. (1947) Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers on this day, making him the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.
The Titanic sank. (1912) The Titanic hit an iceberg the night before, but it took hours to finally sink. It is considered one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, with over 20 people killed.
Insulin has become widely available. (1923) Insulin had only been shown to work the year before; before that, diabetes was essentially a death sentence, especially for children.
Abraham Lincoln is dead. (1865) Lincoln had been shot the night before while attending the theatre, but he lingered until the next morning when he died without regaining consciousness.
McDonald’s has opened. (1955) Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois on this day. Within five years, there were over 100 McDonald’s in the United States, and less than 20 years later the company crossed the $1 billion US Dollar (USD) profit cap.
A dictionary of the English language has been published. (1755) The dictionary was virtually single-handedly written by Samuel Johnson and was the most respected and widely used dictionary in the world until the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary nearly 200 years later.
Fidel Castro has visited the United States. (1959) Castro had come to power in Cuba four months earlier, which greatly concerned American politicians. The visit did not go well; President Eisenhower refused to meet with Castro, and Castro was often confrontational, even walking out of meetings.
The island of Malta has been awarded the George Cross. (1942) The George Cross is the highest civilian award awarded in the United Kingdom and is rarely awarded. The island of Malta and all of its residents were awarded the George Cross due to their behavior during a long-term siege in WWII, and the cross is now stitched into the Maltese flag.
The first Rand McNally road atlas is published. (1924) The company originally began as a printing house that produced tickets for the Chicago railroad system, but rose to the top of the map-making world when it invented a new printing process in 1870. The company’s Rand McNally Auto Chum was the first version of the now common Rand McNally Road Atlas.
General Electric was incorporated. (1892) Thomas Edison had founded the company a little over a decade earlier, but the company took on its modern form to this day when GE merged with the Thomas-Houston Company. Only 100 shares were sold, each for $100 USD.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
