2006—“The only way we can win,” says George W.[MD] Bush, “is to leave [Iraq] before the job is done.”
1979—The U.S. admits troops in ’Nam were hit by Agent Orange.
1976—Steven B. Williams rams a White House gate with his pickup truck at 25 mph. It does not budge.
1971—Toting $200,000 in ransom cash, “D.B. Cooper” parachutes from a hijacked 727 over Washington State, into oblivion and America’s heart.
1965—The New York Times runs a full-page ad signed by 500 WW II and Korean War vets protesting escalation of the Vietnam War.
1963—To spare Jackie Kennedy’s feelings, strip joint proprietor Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald under the watchful eye of TV cameras and the Dallas Police Department.
1961—An overheated electric motor in Colorado cuts off all communications between SAC and NORAD.
1953—Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wisc.) claims the Truman administration is “crawling with Communists.”
1947—All but 17 Congressmen vote to cite the Hollywood Ten for contempt after they take the 5th.
1922—Erskine Childers, a Brit supporter of Irish independence charged with carrying a pistol, is executed while his case is on appeal. He says to his firing squad, “Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way.”
1759—Tobias Smollett gets three month in jail for libeling an admiral.