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America's greatest strength, and its greatest weakness, is our belief in second chances, our belief that we can always start over, that things can be made better.
- Anthony Walton
Today is Wednesday - November 6th, 2024
On This Day In History:
1851 - Happy birthday, Mr. Dow
Charles Henry Dow, the journalist and economist who helped wed media to the stock markets, was born on this day in Connecticut in 1851. Dow moved to New York in 1880 to work as a stringer for a financial news wire. In 1882, he joined forces with Edward D. Jones to produce news reports for Wall Street brokerage firms.
The newly formed Dow Jones & Company would churn out these bulletins, then known as "flimsies," or "slips," and send them over to Wall Street via messenger. Dow and his team would cap the day with a summary report of the market action that, by 1889, had evolved into the Wall Street Journal. Dow was the first editor of the Journal, using the paper as a vehicle to postulate his economic beliefs, including the aptly named "Dow theory." Along the way, Dow developed a statistical method for measuring the markets that has since become the Dow Jones average.
1906 - Roosevelt travels to Panama
On this day in 1906, President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt embarked on a 17-day trip to Panama and Puerto Rico, becoming the first president to make an official diplomatic tour outside of the continental United States.
Roosevelt entered office in 1901 with the firm intention of asserting American influence over Central and South American politics, partly as a result of his own past experiences in the area. In 1897, he became secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley, whose administration worked to secure access to ports and industries in countries with close proximity to the U.S. At the time of Roosevelt’s appointment to the Navy’s highest civilian office, American sea power was on the rise, enabling the U.S. to become a greater influence in world affairs.
Five years later, now-President Roosevelt visited Panama to check on the progress of the Panama Canal, the construction of which had suffered many setbacks, including worker accidents and disease outbreaks. Roosevelt’s tenacious demands for improvements in health care and better working conditions pushed the canal project forward just when it appeared doomed to failure. His trip to the construction site in 1906 –which included the taking of a November 15 photo of the president himself working the controls of a large steam shovel—helped to boost flagging morale.
Roosevelt’s next stop was Puerto Rico, which had become a U.S. protectorate after the Spanish-American War of 1898. In 1900, President William McKinley promised to help establish a civilian government there without becoming an occupying power. McKinley was assassinated in 1901, and Roosevelt, who was then serving as McKinley’s vice president became president, inheriting the stewardship of Puerto Rico. In 1906, he traveled to the country to recommend that Puerto Ricans become U.S. citizens. He stopped short of suggesting Puerto Rico become another U.S. state, however, and vowed to allow the island a certain amount of autonomy. (It was not until 1916, under President Woodrow Wilson, that the Jones Act was passed, extending the option of U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans while preserving Puerto Rico’s autonomy.)
Although presidents before Roosevelt had traveled outside the U.S. in other diplomatic capacities prior to or after serving as president, Roosevelt was the first to make a "state" visit while in office. His trip to Panama and Puerto Rico signaled a new era in how presidents conducted diplomatic relations with other countries
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Celebrating Birthdays Today:
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What Happened on Your Special Day?
I became a fan of "today in history" information when I was very young. My father had a calendar that he had put together of "reasons to celebrate". If anybody asked "what are we celebrating?" my father could check his book and come up with a reason to celebrate for any day of the year. Charlie Chaplin's birthday, Buster Keaton's birthday, the anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, for every day of the year, my father's calendar had some interesting historical event that had occurred.
With this page I have tried to continue the tradition. Generally, I prefer to include birthdays and anniversaries of positive, uplifting, life affirming people and events that have had particular significance in my life. It's here because it was important to me.
I am trying to continually update with links from stories to other relevant sites. Check back regularly for a story on something interesting that happened on this day in history.
There are many, many, sites out there that have a lot of "this day in history" information. Many are not so great, full of inaccurate information and "negative vibes". However, there are a few that are really fabulous. Here are links to a few of my favorites. These sites feature "Today in History" stories for today, and some include archives that will enable you to look up information for any other date in history that is special to you:
This Day in History
The History Channel tells you what happened in Automotive, Civil War, Cold War, Crime, Entertainment, General Interest, Literary, Old West, Vietnam War, Wall Street, and World War II history for today or any day.
Life Magazine Covers
Life offers a look at covers from this day in history.
New York Times: On This Day
Lists events which occurred on each month and day of the year throughout history. Links to New York Times articles on the events when available.
Today in History
Stories and pictures from the American Memory historical collections of the U.S. Library of Congress.
The Internet Movie Database
The Internet Movie Database claims itself to be the biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet. I'm not sure if it really is, but it is huge and has TONS of info on even the most obscure films, movies stars, directors, producers, etc. If it is motion picture related, you can probably find out something about it at this site.
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