Today in History

Question 1

Sept 4, 1957

Arkansas troops prevent desegregation.

Answer 1

Governor Orval Faubus enlists the national guard to prevent the nine african american students from entering central high school in Little Rock.

Question 2

August 29, 1949

Soviets explode an atomic bomb.

Answer 2

The loss of US atomic supremacy, led President Truman to order the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped in Japan.

Question 3

August 28, 1963

Martin Luther King speaks to march on Washington.

Answer 3

Within a year the ratification of the 24th amendment to the constitution, which abolished the poll tax and the passage of civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination and segregation.

Question 4

August 27, 1952

Red Scare dominates American politics.

Answer 4

Republicans and their allies were obviously planning to use the Red Scare to their advantage in the presidential election of that year, while the democrats were going to have to battle the perception they had been “soft” on communism during the administration of president Truman.

Question 5

August 26, 1920

19th Amendment adopted.

Answer 5

Guaranteeing women the right to vote is formally adopted into the US Constitution. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by women suffragists.

Question 6

August 23, 1927

Sacco and Vanzetti executed.

Answer 6

Despite worldwide demonstration in support of their innocence, Italian born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder.

Question 7

August 21, 1958

Lincoln-Douglas debates begin.

Answer 7

In the seven Lincoln-Douglas debated, Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery. While Douglas argued each territory should have “popular sovereignty,” Lincoln lost the senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party.

Question 8

August 19, 1919

President Wilson appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Answer 8

Woodrow Wilson argues in favor of the ratification of the Versailles Treaty (the peace settlements that ended the first World War.)

Question 9

<p>

| Sept 3, 1783 Treaty of Paris signed.</p>

Answer 9

<p>
The American Revolution officially comes to an end when representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France sigh the Treaty of Paris. The sighing signaled America&#39;s status as a free nation.</p>

Question 10

August 30, 1967

Thurgood Marshall confirmed as Supreme Court Justice.

Answer 10

Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice.