Today In History

In 1502: Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

In 1754: The first American newspaper cartoon was published. The illustration in Benjamin Franklin’s “Pennsylvania Gazette” showed a snake cut into sections, each representing an American colony; the caption read, “Join or die.”

In 1926: Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.

In 1961: In a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a “vast wasteland.”

In 1974: The House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.