October 31, 1968 - President Johnson Ends Operation Rolling Thunder

On this day in history in the year 1968 President Johnson announced a halt to Operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing operation against the North Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The end of Operation Rolling Thunder was an attempt at peace, to hopefully stop the war between the Viet Cong and the United States. In Operation Rolling Thunder, U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968. Operation Rolling Thunder lasted three years before the dissection off the halt be for it came to an end in 1968. Part of the reason for the bombing mission was to destroy North Vietnam's transportation system, industrial base, air defenses, and to cease the flow of men and materiel into South Vietnam. The U.S. didn’t want to risk thousands of troops by sending them in to fight one-on-one.

Johnson wanted to stop the bombing and the war. These were his intentions when he considered the halt. Johnson didn’t do it right a way he looked in to it to make sure no one would be affected by this. That’s why Johnson was playing it safe. He didn’t want to show that his guard was down and because we could get surprised attacked. There was no knowledge on what will happen if Johnson stopped Operation Rolling Thunder. Many people kept telling him that nothing major couldn’t happen since the Viet Cong didn’t have a big air force unit, so they wasn’t able to attack us through air support. The bombing halt of Operation Rolling Thunder made President Johnson reputation bad with the U.S citizens. Johnson already know that if he ran for president again no one would vote for him because of the bombing. Not that many were pleased of the decision he has made on the bombing halt. Johnson made a good decision because it did bring peace.

October 29, 1940 - First Peacetime Military Draft Enacted

Draft registration line at Jefferson Streetcar Barn
in Seattle on October 16, 1940

When looking at the world today, it is quite different than it was just a short time ago in 1940. Americans today are spoiled; we are currently living in one of the most peaceful times in world history. Democracy across the global has fostered a world in which many disputes can be solved with words rather than weapons. Today men and women willingly volunteer to proudly serve their country. Contrary to today, 1940 was a scary time to be a young American man, due to tensions surrounding World War II.

Prior to America’s entrance in the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 into law [i]. This act required all men between the ages 21 and 35 to register for the draft. Originally the service time was twelve months. In 1941, the term was expanded to encompass a longer term of duty and a larger population of men that could be conscripted. In total, 10,110,104 men were drafted for the war. On October 29th, 1940, the first lottery for the draft was held, officially bringing the first men into the military for World War II through conscription.[ii] 

Controversy casted a shadow over the draft during this time; this was very prevalent in minority communities. The African-American and Japanese populations were affected more harshly than any other groups. During this time over 100,000 Japanese-Americans, many of whom had little to no connection with Japan other than ancestry, were sent and imprisoned in internment camps. The other group, African-Americans, was still battling for basic rights that we all share today. Abroad, these men were fighting for freedom for their country. In their country, they were fighting for freedom for themselves. Throughout the time, most were forced to serve in segregated regiments. Of the ten million men that served in the military for WWII, over one million of them were African-Americans. Despite this blatant racial segregation and lack of equality, these two groups were asked to do the same things that whites were doing while at the same time fighting battles of their own. The draft and World War II took a serious toll on Americans of all walks of life because of the duel front that was created both by weapons abroad and hypocritical rhetoric at home.

- Nick M. and Matthew G.




[i] Andrew Glass. Politico "Congress enacts first peacetime draft law: Sept. 14, 1940." Accessed October 24, 2013. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5792.html.

[ii] David Wilma. "First peacetime draft in U.S. history takes effect on October 16, 1940.." Accessed October 24, 2013. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5572.

October 28, 1919 - the Volstead Act passed.

October 28, on this day in history in 1919 the Volstead Act was passed. The Volstead act was passed to push the implementation of the 18th amendment. Andrew J. Volstead had the job of sponsoring the legislation, but Wayne Wheeler was the author of the bill. Prohibition was a direct result from the Volstead act.[1] It was titled "An act to prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use, and sale of high-proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and to insure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye, and other lawful industries."[2] The Volstead act was vetoed by Woodrow Wilson but on that same day congress over rode the veto to pass the bill. [3]

The Volstead act was an act that showed the times in America was changing. The progressive movement was in full swing during this time and the Temperance movement within it was calling for reformative legislation on alcohol laws.[4] The Volstead Act was important because not only did it show the power of the American government, by Congress overriding a Presidential veto, but it lead to an amendment to the United States constitution, that was later repealed. The constitutional amendment that was passed because of this act, the 18th, was later repealed by the 21st, showing the people that the country was able to regulate itself and fix the mistakes they made. The act was initially received greatly by the people, until the realized what they were giving up and effectively made criminals of almost the entirety of the United States population, including members of congress and the president.[5] The Volstead Act was something that will go down in history as what seemed like a good idea on paper, but that would never really pan out in reality.

- Justyn Z. and Sam K.




[1] Hanson, David J. "The Volstead Act." Alcohol Problems and Solutions. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/Volstead-Act.html#.UmmtYqWTOfQ (accessed October 25, 2013).
[2] Hanson, David J.
[3] Hanson, David J.
[4] Hanson, David J.
[5] Hanson, David J.

October 21, 1879 - Thomas Edison and His Team Invent the Incandescent Lightbulb

Thomas Edison holding his incandescent light bulb

 Can anyone imagine a world with no electric lights, just candle light? Many people used gas lights and candles in their homes, which left their homes smelly and also were not safe! On this day in 1879, Thomas Edison, a great inventor of many things and his team created a successful incandescent light bulb, in his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ. Many others attempted to make an incandescent light for years, but Edison and his team were the first to get a light to burn for 13.5 hours! Soon after Edison discovered the lasting bulb, he attempted to light up his laboratory and home. [1]

Earlier in 1879, Joseph Swan attempted to create the light bulb, he used just carbonized paper to try to make a light bulb. Just before Edison figured out the right kind of filament to put into the light bulb, he tested over 6,000 vegetable growths. Edison was able to figure out that in his attempt at the light bulb, he needed to use not only carbonized filaments made from cotton thread, but also he added a pure vacuum, sprengle pump, and filament material of high resistance.[2] He discovered that the pure vacuum would help to make the light less dark and glow more! In the process of his discovery, Edison figured out that if he pumped air out while heating the bulb, the pure vacuum

The Sprengle Pump Edison used to create his light bulb

worked better. At an earlier attempt Edison originally used a platinum filament in his project, but quickly learned that this was too expensive. [3] Edison needed a brighter light that was more efficient for people to use.

Before Thomas Edison could make any money off of his invention, they had to go through a lot of different test and trials. The test and trials were to see how the light bulb can be used and how it could be improved to work better. Thomas Edison tried over 1,000 times before becoming successful in making the electric light. About getting closer, he said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Thomas Edison would never give up on his goals of making his invention successful, and that is what drove him to become very successful in his attempts.

Edison’s main goal was to successfully create a light that would be bright, long lasting, cheaper, use little power, and safer for people’s homes! Even in his younger days, he enjoyed learning about how to improve inventions to make the lives of people better. In his discovery, he successfully spread electrical power to everyone. The current discovery provided people with a source that was reliable and flexible. It still needed some more work and adjustments to keep the light burning strong and bright, which led Edison and his team’s discovery into further work in December to quickly start expanding electrical power to households and businesses in the world.

-Amanda D. and Brandon C.





[1] “Menlo Park.” Edison Memorial Tower Corporation, accessed 9 October, 2013, http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/thomas-edison-and-menlo-park

[2] “Incandescent Lamps” Edison Tech Center, accessed 9 October, 2013, http://www.edisontechcenter.org/incandescent.html

[3] “First Public Demonstration of Edison's Light Bulb.” American Library, accessed 9 October, 2013, http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/gilded/jb_gilded_edison_3.html

[4] “Thomas A Edison Quotes.” Brainy Quotes, accessed 16 October, 2013, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_a_edison.html

[5] “Cover Boy—Thomas Edison.” Patently Brilliant, accessed 16 October, 2013, http://patentlybrilliant.com/blog/?p=224

October 16, 1968 - Two Americans Give the Black Power Salute at the Olympics

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won the gold and bronze medals in the 200m sprint. During the medal ceremony, the two men planned their wardrobe in one of the most political visual statements in recent memory. The two men received their awards without shoes but wearing black socks to represent the poverty of African Americans in the United States. Smith in particular wore a black scarf as a symbol for black pride and woke a bead necklace for all of the lynched blacks in the south.

Even though the two black sprinters stole the show, Australian Peter Norman won the silver medal in the race and stood on the podium next to Carlos and Smith wearing an OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badge to show support and to protest against the White Australia bill passed by his own government. This statement was so powerful because of the volatile conditions in the United States for black people following the assassination of Martin Luther King a few months before the Olympics. It showed that the struggles of the blacks to be recognized as equals along with white people were not in vain. Furthermore, the black power salute put the Civil Rights Movement on a global stage as more countries became aware of what was happening in the American south.

However, as heroic and brave the salute was, at the time it was considered villainous. There was a backlash from the groundbreaking gesture as the newspapers compared the men to Nazis as the salute is visually similar to the Nazi Salute. ABC reporter Brett Musburger likened them to storm troopers with dark complexions. TIME Magazine called their salute reprehensible and ugly and the black sprinters’ actions led to Smith being discharged out of the military for his “Un-American” actions and both sprinters receiving death threats after the event. The final straw was reached when someone threw a rock through a plate glass window at Smith’s baby’s crib.

Negative reception aside, this event is important to American history as a whole because of how it coincided with the Black Power movement in the United States but diffused the criticism about how the Black Power Movement was primarily violent. This event showed that people of all races could in fact come together and combat racism and all those who practice it. In conclusion, the Black Power Salute at the 1968 Olympics put the United States on notice that it could not keep its bigoted customs any longer.

- Anthony S. and Joe E.

October 15, 1968 - First Live Telecast from Space

The Apollo 7 was the seventh space mission that NASA launched, attempting to reach their goal publicly announced by John F. Kennedy: to have the first man on the moon be an American. There was a competition between arguably the two most technological dominant nations at the time, being Russia (Soviet Union) and America. When Kennedy was president, one of his primary goals for the country was to make advancements in space (1961). Russia had beaten the U.S with the first man in space, in 1961. (“Apollo 7 (AS-205).”) The Soviet Union also got the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, in 1957. The Apollo 7 was the first mission set to broadcast live to the audience in America. The mission launched October 11, 1968

Americans were very interested in the Apollo 7 mission for a few reasons. First of all. the fire that killed the three pilots on the Apollo 1 before it made it to space gained tons of public attention. Secondly, the patriotic Americans wanted to see their country beat Russia in the “man to the moon” race. And thirdly, Americans wanted to see if space was really what they heard it was. In 1968, they rarely saw pictures or videos like we would see nowadays, they had only heard rumors of space, with zero gravity and being extremely cold as well as never seeing it firsthand until this mission. It was essentially an “unknown” for all humans, if you never studied space or worked for NASA.

America’s launching of the Apollo 7 was the first ever three man mission to space. The three Americans were Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham, and Walter Schirra Jr., the captain. When they launched on October 11th, 1968 there were a few planned broadcasts but they were delayed by Schirra, because the three man crew was sick. (“Apollo 7 (AS-205).”) The crew ended up orbiting the Earth 163 times in just 10 days, 20 hours, and four days into the mission they decided to make their broadcast, with all of America waiting. On October 15th, 1968, the first ever live television broadcast from space aired, and American viewers were intrigued. For the first time, viewers saw the men floating in their spacecraft with no gravity affecting their movements; they were enjoying hot food, too. Captain Schirra started the broadcast with “Hello from the lovely Apollo Room high atop everything.”(“Apollo 7 (23) The Walt, Wally, and Don Show.”) It ended up being one of the highest watched programs in television history. Despite the incredible amount of popularity, only NASA knew that the Apollo 7 was just a test run for the Apollo 8, for the first craft to land on the moon.

The event was actually more significant for the future than the current time. It led to an opening for live broadcasts to be made from space on every manned mission, and even non-manned missions. It gave NASA and America some confidence in advancing the space race; just two months later the Apollo 8 landed on the moon, before the Russians, where another live broadcast was made. It then led to the Apollo 11 where the first man walked on the moon, which was also broadcasted for the world to see. In our opinion, the Apollo 7 was significant in establishing what was to come of space exploration for the rest of the 1960s and gave all Americans a first-hand look at what was really out there beyond what they had heard.

- Ryan R. and Percell D.





“Apollo 7 (AS-205).” Airandspace.si.edu, last modified January 30, 2006. http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/as07/a07.htm


“Apollo 7 (23) The Walt, Wally, and Don Show.” NASA.gov, last modified April 5, 2002. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-7/apollo-7.htm

October 14, 1962 - Start of the Cuban Missile Crisis

“Power” has its riches and ditches, and in the hands of leaders of great nations, it can be a weapon of destruction. On October 14, 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began as a result of discovery of the United States' plan to overthrow Fidel Castro, the Communist leader of Cuba (1). This discovery of Operation Mongoose aided Castro’s insecurities, and he allowed the installment of Soviet missile sites in Cuba, in exchange for more military aid (2). Although the United States and Russia fought alongside during World War II, they didn’t get along because of their different form of government. The United States was democratic, Russia was communist, and by the end of the war they developed a great sense of mistrust and enmity towards each other. The actions taken by the United States at the beginning of the Cuban missile crisis supports their post-war view about Russia (3).

British cartoon of 29 October 1962
shows Kennedy and Khrushchev arm-wrestling
 for power while sitting on hydrogen
bombs. The caption read: 'OK Mr president, let's talk.'

After the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion (a United States invasion to oust Fidel Castro on April 4, 1961) (5), Fidel Castro rationalized that he needed a larger military defense to protect his communist rule. His thirst for this more military defense heightened in 1962 when the Cuban Intelligence discovered documents regarding Operation Mongoose (a United States plan to overthrow Castro planned for October 1962). This created the avenue the Soviet Union needed—a range close enough to strike the United States effectively, so Khrushchev , who was worried about an imbalance of power due to the American missile in Turkey, proposed installing Soviet missiles in Cuba and Castro accepted. (6) 

The construction of the missile sites in Cuba began in mid-July in 1962, but in  August, suspicions arose when American intelligence unraveled the increased shipping activities between the Soviet Union and Cuba (7). In that same month, on the 29th, the first photographic evidence showed the type of missiles installed, and that they were not offensive, but indicated Cuban desire for stronger security. The Soviet Ambassador even convinced Robert F. Kennedy, (one of President Kennedy’s closest advisors), that the installations were only for defensive purposes (8). However, to be certain of this, more photographic evidence was acquired on October 14, 1962. This second piece of evidence proved that the Soviet Union and Cuba could not be trusted, for six larger medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) had been installed (9).

Tension began to greatly build between the Soviet Union, and a nuclear war was about to begin based on the events above. “During the next two weeks, the united States and the Soviet Union would come as close to nuclear war as they ever had, and a fearful world awaited the outcome” (10). The decision made, and action taken by these nations began the Cuban Missiles Crisis, and they were based on the mistrust between these nations, their fear and test of power, and the resentments from the Cuban war, Bay of Pigs Invasion, and World War II. These actions brought the United States and Russia on the brink of a nuclear war.

- Lindsay T. and Teledalase O.





(1) "Cuban Missile Crisis." United States History, accessed 09 October, 2013, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1736.html
(2) “Cuban Missile Crisis”
(3)"The Cuban Missile Crisis begins” Today in History, History.com, accessed on 09 October, 2013, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-cuban-missilecrisis-begins
(4) “Cuban Missile Crisis”
(5)"Bay of Pigs Invasion." United States History, accessed 09 October, 2013, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1765.html
(6) “Cuban Missile Crisis”
(7) “Cuban Missile Crisis”
(8)"The Cuban Missile Crisis Begins”
(9) “The Cuban Missile Crisis Begins”
(10) “The Cuban Missile Crisis Begins”