Sargent Shriver, husband of President Kennedy’s sister Eunice and, in 1972, the running mate of unsuccessful presidential candidate George McGovern, was the first director of the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps, a volunteer organization to help Third World countries, was founded by Kennedy’s executive order on March 1, 1961.
The first U.S. census was taken in 1790. It included six questions and recorded a population of 3,929,214 persons, of whom 3,172,006 were white and 757,208 were black. The white population was evenly divided between males and females-1,615,434 males, 1,556,572 females. Virginia was the most populous state, with 747,610 inhabitants.
The most destructive air attack of World War II was not the atomic bombing of Hiroshima but the firebombing of Tokyo by 279 Superfortress bombers on March 9-10, 1945. Over 1,650 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on the city, raising a massive firestorm and killing from 80,000 to 120,000 people. The bombing represented a…
Europeans discovered Alaska in the 18th century. Vitus Bering, a Dane working for the Russians, and Alexei Chirikov discovered Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in 1741.
Long Island, New York British August 27, 1776 White Plains, New York British October 28, 1776 Bennington, Vermont Americans August 16, 1777 Monmouth, New Jersey British June 28, 1778 Cowpens, South Carolina Americans January 17, 1781
Naval officer Stephen Decatur, hero of campaigns against Barbary Coast privateers and the War of 1812 said, “Our country, right or wrong”. Decatur made his famous remark in a toast at a dinner in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1815: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right. But our…
According to median income figures for 1990, women with four years of college make 72 percent of what their male counterparts make. Women who are high school graduates make 67 percent of what their male counterparts make.