There are 10 federal legal public holidays in the U.S.: New Year’s Day Martin Luther King Day Washington’s Birthday (a.k.a. Presidents’ Day) Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans’ Day Thanksgiving Christmas

The sharpshooter Annie Oakley who appeared in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the late 19th century was born Phoebe Mozee. Her life was popularized on Broadway in the 1946 Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun, starring Ethel Merman.

The leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, was born Elijah Poole in 1897 near Sandersville, Georgia. He took over leadership of the Muslim sect (founded in Detroit in 1930 and commonly known as the Black Muslims) in 1934, expanding its reach and advocating black separatism until his death in 1975.

New York City was named the capital of America in 1788 and remained so until 1800, when Washington, D.C. was so named.

Legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone was an old man when Davy Crockett was just starting his own career as a backwoodsman. Born in Pennsylvania, Boone (1734-1820) is best known for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky. Crockett (1786-1836) served as a U.S. representative from Tennessee and died defending the Alamo. Both men are remembered in folklore … Read more

France sent the first explorers to the region that is now New York state. Italian explorer Giovanni Verrazzano, sailing for France in 1524, discovered New York Bay. In 1609, French soldier and sailor Samuel de Champlain explored what is now northern New York and claimed it for France. However, the Dutch were the first to … Read more

Consisting of a belted tunic that reached just below the knees and baggy trousers gathered at the ankles, the garment known as bloomers was introduced in 1851 by American feminist Amelia Jenks Bloomer. She considered it a lighter, less confining costume for active women than the heavy hoop skirts of the day. Originally designed by … Read more

Beginning in 1955, Boss Richard J. Daley was elected for five terms as mayor of Chicago. He was serving as mayor when he died in 1976. Since 1989, his son, Richard M. Daley, Jr., has served as mayor of Chicago.

The Merrimac was not the ironclad ship fought the Monitor during the Civil War. The Union ship Merrimac had been renamed the Virginia by the Confederates. The Virginia fought the Union ironclad Monitor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 9, 1862. The battle ended in a draw.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 58,135 Americans were killed and 153,303 wounded. It is estimated that 1.3 million Vietnamese lost their lives.

The emergency communications link, also called “hot line”, between Washington and Moscow was installed in 1963 to reduce the possibility of accidental nuclear war.

George Washington. Captain, Cloe, Forester, Lady, Mopsey, Rover, Taster, Tipler, etc. Abraham Lincoln. Jip Franklin D. Roosevelt. Fala and Tiny John F. Kennedy. Charley, Shannon, and Wolf

The poem that later became the “Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. It was written to commemorate the battle for Fort McHenry, Maryland, during the War of 1812, was called “Defence of Fort M’Henry.”

As of 1990, the magazine empire Time Warner was about twice as big, with $1.855 billion in magazine revenue to Hearst’s $993 million.

The 1982 law prohibiting federal support for the contra rebels in Nicaragua, the “Boland Amendment”, was introduced by Massachusetts representative Edward Boland. In 1987, Marine Colonel Oliver North and national security chief John Poindexter were accused of violating the Boland Amendment by diverting funds to the contras from the sale of arms to Iran.

Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas on October 2, 1945, by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947). He signed a bill officially changing the name to honor all the countries of the two continents.

The future mayor of New York City Fiorello La Guardia worked at the immigration center on Ellis Island as an interpreter while attending law school. The Manhattan-born son of an Austrian Jewish mother and Italian father, La Guardia (1882-1947) helped usher immigrants through the center, which served as a port of entry from 1892 to … Read more

There have been 538 members of the Electoral College since 1964, when, in keeping with the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia acquired three electors. In addition, each state chooses as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress. At present, 270 electoral votes are needed to win, a majority of the 538 … Read more

The principal founder of the Library of Congress was Thomas Jefferson, who believed that a democratic legislative body needed a source of information and scholarship on every subject. It was established by Congress on April 24, 1800. Originally based in the Capitol in Washington, D.C., it was moved into a separate building in 1897.

Wolfman Jack’s real name was Robert Weston Smith. Born in Brooklyn, the disc jockey began broadcasting as the “Wolfman” in 1960 at border station XERF in Via Cuncio, Mexico, just north of Del Rio, Texas. His raunchy, outlaw pronouncements were heard widely in the U.S. but remained beyond the jurisdiction of the FCC.

Roosevelt had polio in August 1921, when he was 39. By that time, he had been assistant secretary of the navy, a vice presidential nominee (in 1920), and a member of the New York State Senate.

The Miss Subways program, run by the New York Subway Advertising Company, started in May 1941 and ended in December 1976. Every month a Miss Subways, a woman over 17, not an actress or a model, was chosen. She was featured on signs and was given a $50 sterling silver charm with dangling subway tokens. … Read more

The first labor strike in the United States took place in 1776, in New York, when members of the Journeymen Printers Union struck against their local shops.

Technically, the first president of the United States was not George Washington, but John Hanson of Maryland. In 1781, Hanson began a one-year term as the first “president of the United States in Congress assembled” under the Articles of Confederation. Seven other men served as president before Washington, technically, the ninth president, took office in … Read more

The inoculation campaign that used the Salk polio vaccine during the polio epidemic first started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1954. Dr. Jonas Salk, the developer of the vaccine, himself was involved in the first program of mass inoculation. The oral polio vaccine, developed in 1956 by Albert Sabin, became more widely used than inoculations.

The period known as Franklin Roosevelt’s Hundred Days, which represented the first session of the first New Deal Congress, lasted from March 9 to June 16, 1933. It was a time of intense legislative activity aimed at reversing the effects of the Great Depression.

The last veteran of the American Revolution died in 1867.