2008—In his last (yay!) State of the Union speech, George W.[MD] Bush promises his budget will keep the U.S. “on track for a surplus in 2012.”
2004—U.S. weapons inspector David Kay tells the Senate pre-war WMD intelligence was “almost all wrong.”
2003—In his State of the Union, George W.[MD] Bush lies about tubes, viruses, alliances, and uranium to justify his next war.
1998—Lawyer John Morton-Finney, son of a formerly-enslaved man, dies two years after retiring. He’s 108.
1986—Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union is rescheduled; his Challenger applause line turned into a tragedy.
1969—Unocal drillers using sub-standard pipe cause a 100,000-barrel oil spill off Santa Barbara, creating an 800 square mile oil slick and an environmental movement.
1965—CIA head John McCone and FBI chief J.Edgar Hoover meet at U.C. Berkeley Regent Edwin Pauley’s request and agree to provide Pauley with intel to make it appear that U.C. President Clark Kerr is a Commie.
1944—U.S. B-26s bomb a train on a bridge at Allerona, Italy. It’s full of Allied POWs being evacuated from a prison camp; at least 400 are killed.
1922—The roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C. collapses under thirty inches of snow, killing 98 and injuring 133.
1918—Texas Rangers murder all 15 Hispanic residents of Porvenir.