Tag Archives: US History

The Associated Press reports: Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, on Saturday made a surprise appearance at the Plains Peanut Festival in their Georgia hometown, the Carter Center wrote in a social media post on X. The former president is 98 and has been in home hospice care since February. He turns 99 on Oct. 4. The former …

Via press release from the United States Postal Service: The United States Postal Service is proud to announce the dedication ceremony for a new Forever stamp honoring Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, celebrating her groundbreaking contributions to justice, gender equality and the rule of law. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg stamp features an oil painting of her in her black …

The Associated Press reports: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges. The 39th president is 98 and has been in home hospice care since February. The former first lady is 95 and …

The New York Times reports: Harry Belafonte, who stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and who went on to become a major force in the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 96. The cause was …

CNN reports: Former US President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care, according to a statement from The Carter Center on Saturday. “After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support …

Axios reports: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell plans to mark his tenure as the chamber’s longest-serving party leader with a speech on Tuesday afternoon paying tribute to the previous record holder: former Sen. Mike Mansfield, a Democrat from Montana. The senior senator from Kentucky, 80, will eclipse Mansfield’s 16 years as party leader on Tuesday. Along the way, McConnell has …

Via press release from West Point: Long Gray Line Teammates and the West Point Community: During the holiday break, we will begin a multi-phased process, in accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives, to remove, rename or modify assets and real property at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and West Point installation that commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy or …

The New York Times reports: It has been 15 years since Nancy Pelosi made history as the first woman to be elected speaker of the House. On Wednesday, that history was placed on display on the walls of the Capitol, when Ms. Pelosi’s official portrait was unveiled and set to be hung in the Speaker’s Lobby, adorned until now only …

From the United States Postal Service: This stamp celebrates the life and legacy of civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (1940-2020) of Georgia. Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he had helped achieve in the 1960s. Even in …

Via press release from the White House: When I think of Nancy Pelosi, I think of dignity. History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history. There are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers …

Reuters reports: House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold that influential post, said on Thursday she will step down as the Democratic leader in the chamber a day after Republicans secured a narrow majority following the midterm elections. Pelosi, an 82-year-old liberal from California, has served two stints as speaker. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York …

NPR reports: Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in Thursday at noon as the 116th Supreme Court justice and the first Black woman to serve on the high court. Biden nominated Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Jackson will take two oaths during the livestreamed event: a constitutional oath, …

CBS News reports: John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot and nearly killed President Ronald Reagan in 1981, is set to be unconditionally released from court-ordered psychiatric supervision on June 15, after federal prosecutors, mental health professionals and Hinckley’s legal team told a judge on Wednesday that they have no concerns about his mental state. Hinckley, now 67, shot at …

Bloomberg News reports: The first Black woman justice won’t start hearing arguments until the next term begins in October. The justice-in-waiting hasn’t said how she’d spend the next three months, though she will almost certainly devote time to hiring law clerks and deciding how she will run her chambers. Although Jackson can remain on the appeals court until Breyer retires, …

The New York Times reports: Faced with a historic pick who would not change the ideological divide of the court, top Senate Republicans had initially promised a respectful review of her record to show they could scrutinize a judicial nominee without personal attacks. Few questioned her qualifications, and Judge Jackson had been reviewed and approved by the Judiciary Committee three …

The New York Times reports: At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, precisely 72 years after enumerators began knocking on the doors of some 46 million American houses and apartments, the federal government made public what they learned: the ages, incomes, addresses, ancestry and a trove of other facts about the 150.7 million people who were counted in the 1950 census. Those …

NBC News reports: A Navy fuel ship will be named for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in recognition of her efforts to advance women’s rights and gender equality, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Thursday. The future John Lewis-class replenishment oiler — a ship that transfers fuel to the Navy’s operating carrier strike groups — will be …

CNN reports: Madeleine Albright, the first woman US secretary of state, who helped steer Western foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War, has died. She was 84 years old. Her death was confirmed in an email to staff of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm founded by Albright. From the State Department: Albright is the first …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday refused to parole the man convicted of gunning down Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, a brazen assassination of a presidential candidate that scarred the nation and altered the course of American politics during the turbulent 1960s. A two-person state parole panel recommended in August that Sirhan Sirhan be paroled, …

CNN reports: The Biden administration faces a Wednesday deadline to publicly release a tranche of secret documents that some historians — and conspiracy theorists — hope might shed light on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The release is expected to prolong the bitter debate between the federal government and JFK researchers, who have argued that the CIA, …