Throwback Thursday 3/9!

by Adam Gall

Here's what happened on March 8th!

  • 1768: According to legend, Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee tribe, was born near present-day Springfield, Ohio. Tecumseh resisted all parts of white society and worked to unite Indians of all tribes to fight against white settlers for their land.
    (Shapers of Society)
  • 1891: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles, California. Warren was Chief Justice during the hearing of the case, Brown v. Board of Education. He also led what was called The Warren Commission, which conducted an independent investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 
    (Defining Moments)
  • 1912: Juliette Gordon Low founded the first American Girl Guides group. The national organization, Girl Scouts of America, was established in June of 1913. Her birthday, October 31, is celebrated as Founder’s Day by Girl Scouts around the world.
    (American History)
  • 1914: Alexander Feklisov was born in Moscow, Russia. Feklisov was a Russian spy during the 1940s. He was the handler for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were the first Americans ever to be executed for espionage (1953). Feklisov also proposed a deal to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis.
    (Defining Moments)
  • 1934: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was born in Klushino, Russia. In 1959, he was chosen to be a part of the first group ever trained to fly in space and became the first person to leave Earth and travel in space on April 12, 1961. His flight lasted 108 minutes. He is called “The Columbus of the Cosmos.”
    (Biography for Beginners)
  • 1938: During the Dust Bowl the chief of the Agriculture Department’s Soil Conservative Service, Hugh Hammond Bennett, gave testimony to a Special Senate Committee to Investigate Unemployment and Relief. He emphasized that poverty and soil erosion are closely linked and have to be treated together. Read an excerpt here!
    (Defining Moments)
  • 1943: Professional chess player Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was born in Chicago, Illinois. At 13, he became the youngest chess player to win the national junior championship. He went on to win the U.S. Open and the U.S. Chess Federation championships. He also won the world chess championship in 1972.
    (Sports Champions)
  • 1947: President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Carrie Chapman Catt passed away. Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony in 1900 and spent her time as president working to modernize the organization as well as to grow its membership.
    (Defining Moments)
  • 1954: Edward R. Murrow made an historic broadcast on his news program See It Now. The entire program was dedicated to a scorching examination of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s investigative methods during McCarthyism. You can read the broadcast here!
    (Defining Moments)
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