Doc of the Day
Doc of the Day: Executive Order 8802
On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802. The order banned discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in the government and defense industries. The order resulted in part from pressure placed on Roosevelt by the African American labor leader A. Philip Randolph. Earlier in 1941 Randolph had announced plans for a [...]
25Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Richard Nixon's Smoking Gun Tape
On June 23, 1972, the “Smoking Gun Tape” of President Richard Nixon was recorded in the Oval Office at the White House. A few days earlier, on June 17, 1972, five men employed by Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) had been arrested at the Democratic Party’s national headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in [...]
23Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech
On June 16, 1858, the Republican Party of Illinois convened at Springfield to nominate its candidate for the U.S. Senate. Taking a first step toward the popular election of U.S. senators, the convention bypassed the state legislature and unanimously nominated Abraham Lincoln as its candidate. Anticipating his nomination, Lincoln had been preparing his acceptance speech [...]
16Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: National Industrial Recovery Act
On June 16, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in response to the Great Depression, signed a bill that he saw as the linchpin of the New Deal program, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). This legislation was the boldest effort ever to coordinate the economy of the world’s greatest industrial power. The NIRA was an [...]
16Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Miranda v. Arizona
Miranda v. Arizona, with a majority opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, was announced on June 13, 1966. Miranda is a major landmark in the Supreme Court’s expansion of rights of the accused. The decision reversed criminal convictions and threw out statements made by the defendant while in police custody. The accused, the Court [...]
13Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Virginia Declaration of Rights
On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention formally adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights. In May 1776, the convention had formed a committee to draft a declaration of rights. George Mason was put in charge of composing the document, which outlined the rights of Virginians. Drawing on the 1689 English Bill of Rights (which, in [...]
12Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Dwight Eisenhower’s D-day order
On June 6, 1944, at a critical stage of World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower oversaw the launching of the world’s largest armada. An extraordinary flotilla of 176,000 men, 20,000 vehicles, and thousands of tons of stores and munitions left the shores of England and headed toward Normandy in France as part of the [...]
6Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Marshall Plan
On June 5, 1947, in a commencement address at Harvard University, General George C. Marshall announced the Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Program, designed to aid in the economic rehabilitation of Europe after World War II. Marshall was a career army officer who served as chief of staff during World War II and later [...]
5Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer
On June 2, 1952, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, famously known as the Steel Seizure Case. This landmark case generated high political drama, sharp legal conflict, and tides of public opinion, with the U.S. Supreme Court facing issues of surpassing importance for a nation committed to [...]
2Jun2009 | mdblogger | 0 comments | Continued
Doc of the Day: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
Written after his arrest on April 12, 1963, and published six weeks later on May 28, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is widely regarded as the most important written document of the modern civil rights movement and a classic text on civil disobedience.
Birmingham, Alabama, was reputed to be the most segregated [...]
