what happened on the day i was born essay

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Experience — What Happened on the Day I Was Born

What Happened on The Day I Was Born

• Categories: Personal Experience

About this sample

Words: 621 |

Published: Sep 16, 2023

Words: 621 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Historical events, the personal impact, global events.

• The signing of an important international treaty or agreement, such as the end of a major conflict.
• A notable scientific breakthrough or achievement in space exploration.
• The release of a groundbreaking film, album, or book that had a lasting impact on culture and entertainment.

Personal Significance

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

• Expert in: Life

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1435 words

1 pages / 524 words

2 pages / 762 words

2 pages / 694 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Personal Experience

The moment that changed everything - this essay is about such a moment in my life. At the age of 16, it was April and the spring’s breeze was floating through the air. I can feel the breeze push through my hair, keeping my [...]

What i learned in english class? I’ve learned many things through the course of this class: how to write a good essay, how to get batter at some essays I’ve already written in the past. I’ve learned how to locate my resources to [...]

This is a short story about myself. My essay is particularly about me in third grade. In third grade, my family and I moved to Morgan, Utah. I had to go to a different school, where I knew nobody. I had to make new [...]

In the context of my autobiography essay, it's essential to understand my background. My name is Tharun, and I was born on December 18, 2004, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My parents are Suresh and Karolina. Unfortunately, both of [...]

Reflective writing is a useful approach for nurses to learn from experience. In nursing, self reflection is essential to acknowledge own strength and limitation and to initiate necessary changes in future to improve the [...]

Wake up! Wake up! The shrieking commands of my now irate mother abruptly awake me. As I strain to open my eyes, I am pierced by the fiery hot coals of the suns rays. I roll out of bed, only to hear more commands barked out by my [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

The Year You Were Born

Getting started.

• Finding Newspaper Articles
• Journals/Journal Articles
• Web Resources
• Documenting Sources

Did you find this LibGuide helpful?

Subject Guide

User:Janka, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In a popular assignment, ENG 101/102 instructors ask you to write about what happened during the year that you were born and sometimes even what happened on the very day that you were born.  What historical and cultural events happened on or around that date? What was the impact of these events? What conditions existed in the country or in the world on that date?

This guide will help you identify and find information about events that happened on your birthdate and it will help you learn about conditions that existed in the times into which you were born.

Step 1:  Discover

To begin your "Birthday" assignment, you'll need to identify one or more events that occurred on or around your birth date.  Reference books, daily newspapers, news magazines and  chronologies can help you find out what happened on a particular date or during a particular time period.

Step 2:  Explore

Once you've selected the event(s) you want to write about, you can use other research tools to find out even more information about these events and conditions.

• Next: Books >>
• Last Updated: Oct 27, 2023 11:09 AM
• URL: https://libguides.mssu.edu/yearborn

This site is maintained by the librarians of George A. Spiva Library . If you have a question or comment about the Library's LibGuides, please contact the site administrator .

What You See in the Dark

Rudy Gobert

Minnesota Timberwolves

I have a few things I want to get off my chest, before the playoffs start. I’m a relatively private person, and it’s not the most natural thing for me to talk about myself if I don’t really know you. But I don’t think you’ll understand me unless you understand a bit of my history, and everything in my life that’s brought me here. So here we go. I hope you will listen with an open mind. 

When our season ended last summer, I went up to the woods in Southern Oregon and I spent three days at a darkness retreat. No phones, no books, no distractions. Just me and my thoughts for 64 hours. It was really powerful. 

When you blow out that little candle on the first night and it’s just you and your own mind, it’s real. All of the crutches that you rely on to distract you and to feed your ego aren’t there anymore. There’s a little slot in the door of your room that they slide a tray of food through for breakfast and dinner, and that’s it. It’s basically meditation times 1,000. 

More than anything, you realize how much of your life, and your dreams, and your fears, and everything that you care about, gets covered up by the daily grind. The darkness shows you everything. Even the things that you thought you had buried. For me, there were a lot of beautiful memories. But there were some painful ones, too. 

I’m always a bit reluctant to talk about my own personal journey. I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing or just my own personal nature. But I think maybe it has made me a bit of a misunderstood person. When I came into the league, I just chalked it up to me being French. But the last few years, after the COVID situation, and my trade to Minnesota, and the incident against the Warriors this season, I feel like people make their own stories about me without knowing much about who I am. 

If you want to stop at the surface with me, that’s fine. 

But if you actually want to get to know me on a deeper level, then I will let you know about a few things that came to me when I was reflecting on my life in the dark…. 

Beautiful things. Painful things. A lot of things……..

“We don’t want that baby in our house.”

Before I was even conscious, when I was just a child coming into the world in Northern France, some people didn’t want me around because of who I am. And not just people. My own people. Very close family, actually. 

It’s a painful memory, but one that I need to share. You see, every year, my mom’s side of the family had this big Christmas dinner at a certain person’s house. My mom is white. My dad is Black. He’s from Guadeloupe, and he was playing basketball professionally in France when they met. My mom already had two white children from her previous relationship, and then I came into the world…. 

And for some people, that was a problem. 

After I was born, certain relatives made it very clear to her that she wasn’t welcome to come to Christmas dinner if she brought me along. 

She could come on her own. But she couldn’t bring “ that child .” She couldn’t bring Rudy. 

She was devastated. And obviously, she spent Christmas with me instead. She told them, “If that’s the way you think, then you’re not going to see me anymore. Not at Christmas. Not ever. I don’t want anything to do with you.” 

My mom.... What would I be without her? 

From day one, before I could protect myself, my mom was protecting me. The things she did for me and my siblings … it’s incredible. Financially, we didn’t have a lot. My dad went back to Guadeloupe when I was two, and my mom had to handle a lot of responsibilities. We lived in what we call HLM. Social housing. Immigrants from all different places. Lots going on, it was an interesting place. No matter what was going on, I always felt grateful and happy for everything I had. I never complained, never asked my mom for things we couldn’t afford. 

One of my earliest memories is going with my mom to a little shop that this charity ran on the weekend. For whatever reason, it was a less abundant time for us, and you could get free groceries and stuff like that. During the holidays, they had a whole table of toys that were donated for all the kids. 

My mom told me that I could pick anything I wanted for my Christmas gift. I remember choosing this really cool toy, and I was maybe six or seven years old. That's when I started to realize what my life back then was like compared to other kids, and having that feeling of happiness, mixed with sadness, mixed with hunger…. As I was playing with this new toy, I remembered thinking “One day, we won’t have to worry about anything.”

It wasn’t really about money or material things. It was about feeling at ease. In control. 

That little memory came back to me in the dark. It was like it was happening right in front of me. It was so vivid. 

And it’s not a sad memory. That’s the thing that’s important to realize. It’s not sad at all. It’s beautiful. 

At the time, I had never even picked up a basketball yet. But I knew — I really knew — that somehow all of this was going to happen. I had an iron belief. Not necessarily that I was going to play in the NBA. But that I was going to be successful — whatever that meant for me. Science, law, accounting, whatever. It didn’t matter. I was going to make it. For us .

By the time I was 12, I had become obsessed with basketball. I used to get every magazine I could get my hands on. Remember those posters in the middle of every issue? I’d tear them out and tape them to my bedroom wall. I put up so many of them that after a while you couldn’t even see the walls underneath. It was wall-to-wall NBA posters with my graffiti tags sprayed over them. I would close my eyes and imagine myself on an NBA floor — dunking the ball, guarding legends like Kobe, Tony, Dirk, STAT … this was the place I would go to. In my head, in my room, in France. If you saw a picture of me at that age, you might not believe it. But I believed it with all my heart and soul. 

A few months after I turned 13, I had the opportunity to join a basketball academy in a town called Amiens, a little further away from my hometown, Saint-Quentin. In my mind, this opportunity was the way I was going to chase my dream and put myself in a situation where I could get better every day. We had two or three practices a day, plus school. Because Amiens was far from home, I would only come home on the weekends. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but I felt it was necessary, and I made my decision. I would take the 6:20 a.m. train on Monday morning, and return home on Friday evening. My siblings had left for university already, and I was the only kid in the house with Mom. Not until years later, did I realize how hard it was for my mom to have her youngest kid leave home at that time. 

At the time, all she told me was, “Go after your dreams. I’ll be fine.” 

When you are focused on the day-to-day grind, all of these memories can be a blur. There is always noise. But when I was sitting in the darkness, it was like a time machine. You are literally on the train again at six in the morning. You can smell the seats. You remember all the things you had to go through. You remember the kids who called you a n***** in elementary school. You remember the coaches who thought you sucked and had zero chance to become a pro. You remember how desperate you were to make your dream a reality for you and your family. You remember sitting in the living room so angry and disappointed, crying with your mom when at 15 years old you received that letter that said you weren’t accepted to the best basketball academy in France. You remember your mom telling you to keep believing, that it was meant to be.

You remember it all. 

You remember shooting around in the gym with some of your teammates when you were 17, a nobody even in France, and telling them, “I don’t want to just make it to the NBA. I want to be an All-Star. No, I’m going to be an All-Star.” 

And all of them laughing at you, like, “Bro. What???? ” 

And you saying, “You’ll see. Watch me. Just watch.” 

You remember showing your mom that first mock draft with your name on it. Her name. Our name. Gobert.

Thinking about it still makes me smile to this day. What a journey.… I am so grateful for all of it. 

I left my home at 13 to be on this basketball journey, and until I went to the darkness retreat this past summer, I hadn’t ever zoomed out and appreciated the arc of my life like this. It felt like when you’re playing one of those old Playstation RPG games, and you make it to the quiet room to save your game to the memory card. It’s like I put the controller down for a second, zoomed out, and felt that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be on my journey.… And appreciated the beauty of it all. 

It made me understand how other people see me, too. 

You know … of all the shit I’ve gotten in my career, a lot of it was deserved. I’ve made mistakes, like everybody. But the one moment that really bothers me is when I was asked about missing out on the All-Star Game in 2019, and I broke down in tears. 

I think that moment, more than anything, defines how people see me in America vs. who I really am. 

When it happened, I was caught off guard. I had a bunch of cameras in front of me after our practice. I got asked about not making the team, so I started telling the reporters how my mom was the one to call me to tell me the news. And how she started crying on the phone with me. 

For some reason, I just lost it.

It’s something that I think happens to everyone when they talk about their mom…. Like, I would never show emotion in front of my mom. I’m always a rock. I have to act like everything is cool. But in that moment, when I thought of her in front of all the reporters and the cameras, it’s like I turned into a kid again. It just tapped into something really raw inside of me, and it’s like everything came back to me in a surge of emotions — all the memories, and everything she did to help me live my dreams — and I just got choked up. 

I wasn’t emotional because I missed out on one All-Star Game. It was way deeper than that. I was crying because of the deeper meaning. How much my mom means to me. How much this game of basketball means to me. Everything that we have lived through together. 

Of course, social media went crazy. It was turned into a meme, and everyone had their jokes, because that’s the way the world works now. But honestly, you know what? I would never take it back. That was one of the most real moments that I’ve ever had in front of a TV camera. 

I wish for everyone on this planet to have something in their life that they give everything to — all their passion and their heart and emotion — the way that I pour my whole soul into the game of basketball. 

I hope kids watch that video and they see how passionate that person on their screen is. Someone that’s fighting for his dreams. 

No one should be afraid to fail, especially kids. Showing your emotions…. It’s not weakness. It’s just being real . 

That’s a message that I wish we’d tell kids a lot more. I’ve seen how toxic it is for kids now on social media. It’s relentless. If you’re a teenager growing up in this world right now, you need the truth, not a fairytale. And the truth is that there is a lot of shit that is going to happen in your life, and you are going to be tested. You are going to have a lot of moments in your life when the easiest thing to do is to snap. I have done it myself! I am not perfect. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but if I have any wisdom that I can share from working on myself the past few years, it would be this….. 

A lot of satisfaction can come from being yourself, even when you know that some people will make fun of you for it. To me, the highest form of strength is when you stay true to yourself even if the world will mock you for it. That’s when you show your true colors.

You will always have haters. Some people will always try to bring you down. But they’re human like you. Same problems as you. Same frustrations. Sometimes, they’re the ones who are hurting the most. 

The social media machine will never rest. It will always try to pour gasoline on every beef, and try to pit us against each other in the name of entertainment. Especially if it’s two Black men. That’s just the reality of it. But the truth is, I don’t look at anybody in the NBA — past or present — as my enemy. There are only 450 of us now who are blessed to play in this league, and I consider every one of those guys as my brothers. No matter where you were born, or what language you speak, if you have made it this far, then you have been through things that the average person wouldn’t believe, and you have my ultimate respect. 

This brotherhood should be way bigger than basketball. 

All the memes and the jokes and the social media drama…. That’s good for clicks. For business. For entertainment. 

As grown men, as human beings, we should pride ourselves on standing for something bigger. In this crazy world, with all its real problems, it’s just basketball at the end of the day. I love it more than I love anything. I’ve given my life to this game. But it’s still just basketball. More than anything, I wish we could have more understanding and empathy for one another. Even for our biggest rivals. Especially for them. 

At the end of the day, when the battle is over, I wanna be able to reach out my hand and say, “I see you. It’s just basketball. We’re good. I see you.” 

…. I hope we beat your ass tonight, but I still see you.

FEATURED STORIES

It’s Story Time

Everyone Is Going Through Something

Mental health isn’t just an athlete thing. What you do for a living doesn’t have to define who you are. This is an everyone thing.

I’m Still Here

John Wall shares his story: “I was this close to taking my own life. That’s a hard thing to tell the world. But if you can say one thing about me, it’s that I’ve always been real, and that’s not going to change today.”

Life Goes On

Tyrese Haliburton on leaving Sacramento and going to Indiana: “Even though I’m sad about leaving a team and city I love, I’m also excited for what comes next.”

World History teaching resources for the high school classroom: lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and simulation games for KS3, IGCSE, IB and A-Level teachers.

In this project, you will learn about some of the most important events in history that took place on your birthday., you will use the most interesting of these to produce your own display piece by completing this "timeline of my birthday" worksheet ., instructions, step 1 - getting the information.

Input your birthday here and click "search". It will provide a list of events, births and deaths that took place across a wide range of time on the day you were born. (TIP: a random batch of events are selected. You can click again to get a fresh batch of results!).

Step 2 - Selecting the information and completing the timeline

Select AT LEAST FIVE of these entries to put into your "Timeline of my Birthday" worksheet , following these rules:

• At least one ‘event’, one ‘birth’ and one ‘death’ must be included
• No more than one entry in each row (=century)
• Put a picture relating to this entry in a cell next to it, with a caption.
• Complete the final row with information about yourself..

Step 3 - Sharing your findings and creating a display

Print off your completed work and use it for a classroom discussion and display (who shares their birthday with that of the most important historical character? who shared their birthday with the most significant historical event?).

testimonials

Buy the books.

Latest Additions

New resources are added every single week of the year!

Mary I: Religious Policy | The Issue of Marriage | Mary I: Timeline of the Reign | England under Northumberland | Sourcework: England under Protector Somerset | Factual Test: England under Protector Somerset | Somerset: Conclusion and Debate | The 1549 Rebellions | Somerset: The 1549 Rebellions | Somerset: Economic Policy | Somerset: Sourcework and Markscheme on Religious Policy | Somerset: Religious Policy | Somerset: Character and Style of Government | Somerset: Foreign Policy | Introduction: England in 1547 |

Latest news from my classroom

Get full access now.

Just for You...

Can't find what you need? Google it! Click inside the box, type in a keyword or words & click on 'Google Search'. To return to our website, click on the baby you'll see after you search.

The best place to find out what happened on my birthday!

Buy a birthday gift

Fun facts on my birthday

What happened on my birthday

Find people with my birthday

• World birthday map

What Happened On My Birthday

Famous birthdays and events, event details, famous birthdays for this month.

Simple Link:

Shop TODAY’s 2024 Travel Gear Awards are here! Save up to 50% off winners

• TODAY Plaza
• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show

Is Robert Durst dead? What happened after Season One of 'The Jinx'

Robert Durst may have successfully evaded justice for decades thanks to his millions — but in the end, the New York real estate heir and convicted murderer died while incarcerated at a  state prison for ailing inmates .

Durst's many legal woes, including a conviction in the execution-style killing of one of his closest friends and an indictment in the 1982 murder of his first wife, finally caught up to him when he was a frail man in his 70s.

The millionaire Manhattanite faced declining health, suffering with various ailments, including COVID-19, while serving multiple prison sentences in California.

Durst, whose bizarre story continues to be told in Season Two of Max’s “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” premiering April 21, died in January 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 78.

Here’s everything to know about the death of Robert Durst.

Who was Robert Durst?

Robert Durst was born in April 1943 in New York City. He was the oldest son of wealthy real estate tycoon Seymour Durst, head of the Durst Organization, which owns some of the city’s most iconic buildings.

In 2021, the Durst family empire was reportedly worth $8 billion, according to The New York Times.

What crimes did Robert Durst commit?

In October 2021, Durst was sentenced to life in prison for the execution-style murder of his close friend and confidante Susan Berman, who was shot point-blank in the back of her head in December 2000.

Berman had been scheduled to speak to prosecutors about the 1982 disappearance of Durst's first wife, Kathie Durst around the time of her death.

The following month, Robert Durst was indicted on murder charges in connection to the January 1982 disappearance of his first wife. Kathie Durst, who was 29.

In November 2003, Robert Durst was acquitted of murdering his elderly neighbor Morris Black , despite the fact that Durst admitted in court that he cut up Black's body and tossed it in garbage bags into Galveston Bay in Texas.

Durst told the jury that Black had been accidentally shot and killed while the two wrestled over a gun during a physical altercation in Durst's boarding house room, according to a 2008 episode of NBC’s “Dateline.”

Durst explained in court that he panicked about police finding Black's body in his house so he opted to dismember it and toss its piece into the bay.

Did Durst ever confess to murdering any of his victims?

In April 2012, while filming the Season One finale of "The Jinx," Durst muttered what many deemed a confession while he was talking to himself.

After a tense exchange with Andrew Jarecki, the director of the Emmy-winning docuseries, Durst excused himself to use the bathroom, presumably unaware the his microphone was still recording him.

Alone in the bathroom, Durst whispered to himself in a grim, lengthy soliloquy: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

Legal scholars have debated the confession's legitimacy, noting that the series' producers later revealed that they had edited Durst's conversation with himself.

During the 2021 trial for Susan Berman's murder, Durst's best friend, Nick Chavin, testified that Durst had confessed to him in 2014 that he had killed Berman.

Season Two of "The Jinx" shows Chavin recalling on the stand that Durst told him, “I had to. It was her or me. I had no choice.”

How did Durst die?

Durst died at San Joaquin General Hospital on Jan. 10, 2022 at age 78 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Durst’s health declined while he was serving time in prison on felony weapons charges during his trial for Berman’s murder.

In October 2021, the same week Durst was sentenced to life for killing Berman, he  tested positive for COVID-19  and placed on a ventilator.

In June 2021, he was hospitalized for an unspecified health ailment , prompting the judge in the Berman trial to send jurors home.

One of Durst's attorneys had previously asked the judge to postpone the trial because Durst had allegedly been diagnosed with bladder cancer and other health problems. The judge denied the request.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, who successfully prosecuted Durt for the Berman murder, said in a statement that the real estate heir had died "unrepentant."

“It’s a shame when anybody loses their life, however, it’s important to keep in mind that Bob Durst lived to be 78 years old, decades longer than two of his victims,” Lewin said. “To the end he was hostile, unrepentant, and unremorseful. My thoughts and sympathies lie with his victims.”

At the time of his death, Durst was reportedly worth more than $100 million.

Gina Vivinetto is a writer for TODAY.com.

Diana Dasrath is NBC News’ entertainment producer and a senior reporter. 

The never-ending Young Thug trial that could reshape hip-hop

The atlanta rap star is at the center of one of the most complex, chaotic cases in georgia’s history, accused of running a murderous gang under the guise of a record label.

ATLANTA — Two years in the Fulton County court system have turned Young Thug into an iPad kid. With each passing day, he looks less and less like the musical prodigy who came out of the Atlanta projects and redefined the sound and style of trap. Who spent his 20s touring the world and blowing minds, just as likely to pose for cameras in a leather jacket as a billowing couture dress. Now, he wears a blank face in the chilly courtroom where guards deposit him most mornings.

The man born Jeffery Lamar Williams, now 32, pecks at a tablet. He swipes, he taps, he barely rises when the judge walks in. Thug paws at the screen as lawyers who will help decide whether he spends the next 20 years in prison crack their morning sodas and their morning jokes. “Is that Schlitz?” the judge asks. “Gotta stay warm in here somehow,” an attorney says. Ha ha ha. Tap tap tap.

It is a February morning, the 654th day since Williams was jailed without bond and accused of running a murderous gang posing as a red-hot record label. Jury selection lasted a full year; the trial is likely to run past the next presidential election. When a forensic biologist takes the stand to explain the finer points of a “molecular Xerox machine” in relation to an alleged assault from 2013, Thug crosses his arms across his 6-foot-3-inch frame, closes his eyes and sinks toward the defense table. On the gallery’s hard wooden benches, where a scrap of foam is impressed with the butt cheeks of some long-gone observer, a deputy will nod off before the hearing ends.

This is the same case that has obsessed the rap world and drawn scrutiny from legal scholars for its high drama and high stakes. It’s the trial that has made tabloid headlines for its mishaps: pornographic Zoom-bombing and jurors’ faces accidentally live-streamed. One of Williams’s co-defendants has been accused of a hand-to-hand drug swap in full view of the judge. A deputy was arrested for allegedly smuggling contraband into jail and having an “inappropriate relationship” with another co-defendant who has since been severed from the case.

“It’s been a wild ride,” said Jack Lerner, co-author of “Rap on Trial: A Legal Guide for Attorneys,” who is following the trial along with innumerable rap fans, concerned about its potential chilling effect on the industry. “They brought this massive [racketeering] case into a regular Georgia courtroom, Fulton County courtroom, that really wasn’t set up for a case this massive.”

But most days are morbid monotony. Thug stares forlornly into the news cameras. Living on chips and chocolate in jail, his lawyers say , he sleeps little. They say the government is trying to silence a generational Black artist using a case so thin that the indictment document cites Thug’s own lyrics as “overt act[s] in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

“Gave the lawyer close to two mil. He handles all the killings,” Thug sang on 2019’s album “So Much Fun,” now transcribed in the official court records. “We don’t speak ’bout s--- on wax. It’s all mob business. We know to kill the biggest cats of all kittens.”

T he Fulton County Superior Courthouse sits less than five miles from Cleveland Avenue, nicknamed Bleveland Avenue for the Bloods-affiliated gangs that dominate the neighborhood, where Williams was raised as one of 11 children.

His childhood apartment was demolished when he was about 18 years old. A few years later, Thug released his debut mixtape “I Came From Nothing.”

He sounded like no one else in the macho world of Southern rap, layering sophomoric and nonsensical lyrics over hard-nosed trap beats. The Washington Post’s music critic Chris Richards would later describe his work as the sound of a “world being dismantled.”

Thug was quickly scooped up by legendary Atlanta artist Gucci Mane, with whom he shares an ice cream cone face tattoo, and his career only accelerated. He left Bleveland for Buckhead — a tony part of Atlanta near a shopping mall with storefronts of Cartier and Gucci. By 2019, Thug had won a Grammy, collaborated with Elton John and established himself as one of the hottest upcoming stars in the fast-evolving world of rap.

Fame and money amplified Thug’s unique style. His manager told a Fader reporter in 2014 that he “eats no real food.” GQ wrote two years later he was injected with vitamins each month. He once ordered everyone who entered his home to wear white, according to a Complex reporter. He wore an Alessandro Trincone dress for the cover of his 2016 album “Jeffery.” The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston later displayed the dress in its “ Gender Bending Fashion ” exhibition.

He is unapologetically a rapper of the South, which has largely displaced acts from the East and West coasts on the charts. When a Complex reporter drove with Thug by a 20-story housing project in Manhattan in 2021, Thug envied the balcony views not seen in Atlanta projects.

“That is why you can’t compare to us, because you can still go to the top floor of your building and see the world, and see how you want to be,” he said . “We gotta literally go to prison and get put on an airplane to get this high.”

T hug’s rise in the 2010s loosely coincided with increasing public concern about violent crime in Atlanta, with calls for authorities to take major action. Prosecutors under District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) set their sights on Young Thug and about two dozen others believed to be associated with him. Investigators searched social media posts for gang signs and came to believe that some of Thug’s lyrics about crimes and shootings were based in reality.

Thug was one of 28 people arrested in raids across the city on May 9, 2022. An 88-page indictment lays out the government’s case that they operated as a gang called Young Slime Life — which prosecutors noted bore the same initials as Thug’s music label, Young Stoner Life.

“The members and associates of YSL moved like a pack, with defendant Jeffery Williams as its head,” lead prosecutor Adriane Love would say during opening statements at the trial.

Specifically, Thug was accused of renting a car used in the fatal 2015 drive-by that led to a gang war between two Bloods sets. But he was accused of involvement in a long list of homicides, armed robberies, aggravated assaults, theft, drug dealing, carjacking and witness intimidation that his co-defendants are charged with.

Thug’s attorney Brian Steel denies the charges against his client, who pleaded not guilty.

“The prosecution has taken a young man who was born into no opportunity, despair and hardship. And he has become a world-renowned, award-winning musical artist,” Steel told The Post last year.

Thug has essentially lived behind bars since his arrest, barring infrequent excursions such as a trip to his sister’s funeral last year. He is driven 20 miles from his jail cell to the courthouse every weekday morning, to bear silent witness to one of the most complex racketeering cases in Georgia’s history.

Legal experts told The Post that it is unconventional that Thug and his co-defendants are being prosecuted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) — a legal framework prominently used in the 1980s to punish mafia activity, and which Willis and her prosecutors will also use to try former president Donald Trump on election fraud charges this summer.

RICO laws allow prosecutors to dismantle entire criminal organizations, from the street level to the top. If convicted, Thug and his five remaining co-defendants (the others either cut plea deals or will be tried separately) could face up to two decades in prison. But RICO cases are also notoriously massive, complicated and unwieldy, creating opportunity for disruptions and delays — all on ample display during this case’s long windup.

T he screams startled everyone. It was April 19, 2023 — midway through the case’s year-long jury selection process that sifted through more than 2,000 potential people. Thug’s head shot up and some of his co-defendants leaped to their feet as Rodalius Ryan — an alleged member of Thug’s crew already serving life in prison for a 2015 murder — cried for help from a cell down a hallway from the courtroom.

Footage of the incident shows deputies almost losing control of the room. Cordarius Dorsey, another co-defendant, tried to barge past deputies at the door in an apparent attempt to reach Ryan. Max Schardt, who was representing Shannon Stillwell, implored the room with outstretched arms: “Everybody just chill!”

It was later reported that Ryan was screaming as deputies strip searched him. They allegedly found two packages of marijuana sewn into his underwear, according to body-camera footage aired on local news.

On most days, the courtroom is kept under control by Judge Ural D. Glanville, a career Army man and a joyful disciplinarian, who enters the courtroom each day with his service dog, a black Labrador named Jack.

When a potential juror skipped court to visit the Dominican Republic last year, Glanville ordered them to write a 30-page essay in APA style, with primary and secondary sources. When a juror asked for the courtroom to be made warmer, Glanville replied that he kept it cold to keep everyone awake. The judge told an attorney who showed up late to a hearing in May that he would be held in contempt unless he bought everyone lunch. (The lawyer ordered chicken wings from a nearby strip club.) And as Glanville grows frustrated with the trial’s plodding pace — prosecutors by mid-April had so far only made it through about a quarter of more than 200 expected witnesses — he has threatened to hold court on the weekends.

But the surreality of the case sometimes gets away from the judge. Glanville inadvertently went viral on social media in the trial’s first week for reading out Young Thug’s lyrics in his monotone drawl. “F--- the police (f--- ’em), in a high speed,” Glanville recited, butchering the flow. “F--- the judge.”

Young Thug - Slime Sh*t ft Yak Gotti [Judge Ural Glanville Remix] pic.twitter.com/RbJLislE0v — THUGGERDAILY ひ (@ThuggerDaily) January 5, 2023

Other incidents have been more serious. A video of a defendant’s interrogation was leaked online last year, sparking an investigation. A defense attorney in the trial has been arrested on charges of bringing prescription pills into the courthouse and allegedly throwing his cellphone at a deputy’s head. A potential juror was briefly jailed for recording court proceedings.

Less than a month of the start of the long-anticipated trial, in December, Glanville paused proceedings for several weeks after Stillwell was stabbed in the Fulton County Jail.

P rosecutors have been using rap lyrics as evidence since at least the 1990s, with mixed success and despite criticism that White musicians are rarely accused of doing the things they sing about. (No one ever charged Johnny Cash for saying he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.)

A history of prosecuting rap lyrics

“I think we should all be uneasy when forms of artistic expression are taken as literal truths almost as public confession. There’s a real slippery slope,” said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta.

Asked for comment, the DA’s office pointed to the judge’s November 2023 ruling that “the lyric and related social media evidence is logically and legally relevant and, thus, conditionally admitted.”

The trial is a sensation online, with thousands of comments under a live stream from the courtroom and entertainment sites covering every legal argument and cultural repercussion. “Chance the Rapper’s Birthday Wish Is For Young Thug To Be Released From Jail,” read a BET headline Wednesday.

In Atlanta, where rap is a multibillion-dollar industry , up-and-coming artists also have a wary eye on the trial.

“They’re looking at [DA] Fani [Willis] like she’s turned Atlanta into Gotham,” said musician Langston Bleu. “It’s not cool to be guilty of something just because you’re really good at selling that.”

Atlanta musician Cade Fortunat, who sings under the name 4TUNAT, found it laughable that lyrics could be considered evidence. When a rapper puts the word “Glock” or “AK-47” into a track, he said, they are more likely to be considering the syllabic structure of the word than remembering a real event.

Z6Saint, native Atlantean and rapper, noted Young Thug’s imprisonment has not drawn many public protests. But he worries what will happen to the next generation of rappers if Thug and others are muzzled.

“I don’t think people are too worried about it,” he said. “They probably should be more worried about it.”

If Thug has been chilled, it’s not readily apparent. He released a new album, “ Business Is Business ” in June 2023, illustrated with an image of himself at the defense table beneath an empty judge’s bench.

• Sasha Velour sashays into the culture wars April 17, 2024 Sasha Velour sashays into the culture wars April 17, 2024
• A real Prince of Denmark tries to live a normal Washington life April 16, 2024 A real Prince of Denmark tries to live a normal Washington life April 16, 2024
• The deeply silly, extremely serious rise of ‘Alpha Male’ Nick Adams April 9, 2024 The deeply silly, extremely serious rise of ‘Alpha Male’ Nick Adams April 9, 2024

COMIC: Our sun was born with thousands of other stars. Where did they all go?

The sun sits alone at the center of our solar system — but it was actually born in a giant cloud alongside thousands of other stars. So where did all those stars go?

Astrophysicists Jeremy Webb and Natalie Price-Jones explain what may have happened to the sun's siblings — and why finding them matters.

This comic was written and illustrated by Connie Hanzhang Jin, based on reporting from Regina Barber and Connie Hanzhang Jin. It was edited by Amina Khan, Ben de la Cruz and Pierre Kattar.

The Science of Siblings is a new series exploring the ways our siblings can influence us, from our money and our mental health all the way down to our very molecules. We'll be sharing these stories over the next several weeks.

More from the Science of Siblings series:

• A gunman stole his twin from him. This is what he's learned about grieving a sibling
• In the womb, a brother's hormones can shape a sister's future
• These identical twins both grew up with autism, but took very different paths

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism

David Folkenflik

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument. Uri Berliner hide caption

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument.

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had "lost America's trust" by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner's five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner's essay for the online news site The Free Press . It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization .

In a statement Monday about the messages she had posted, Maher praised the integrity of NPR's journalists and underscored the independence of their reporting.

"In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen," she said. "What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."

The network noted that "the CEO is not involved in editorial decisions."

In an interview with me later on Monday, Berliner said the social media posts demonstrated Maher was all but incapable of being the person best poised to direct the organization.

"We're looking for a leader right now who's going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about," Berliner said. "And this seems to be the opposite of that."

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month. Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss hide caption

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month.

He said that he tried repeatedly to make his concerns over NPR's coverage known to news leaders and to Maher's predecessor as chief executive before publishing his essay.

Berliner has singled out coverage of several issues dominating the 2020s for criticism, including trans rights, the Israel-Hamas war and COVID. Berliner says he sees the same problems at other news organizations, but argues NPR, as a mission-driven institution, has a greater obligation to fairness.

"I love NPR and feel it's a national trust," Berliner says. "We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners."

A "final warning"

The circumstances surrounding the interview were singular.

Berliner provided me with a copy of the formal rebuke to review. NPR did not confirm or comment upon his suspension for this article.

In presenting Berliner's suspension Thursday afternoon, the organization told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists. It called the letter a "final warning," saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR's policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR's newsroom union but says he is not appealing the punishment.

The Free Press is a site that has become a haven for journalists who believe that mainstream media outlets have become too liberal. In addition to his essay, Berliner appeared in an episode of its podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss.

A few hours after the essay appeared online, NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi reminded Berliner of the requirement that he secure approval before appearing in outside press, according to a copy of the note provided by Berliner.

In its formal rebuke, NPR did not cite Berliner's appearance on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation program last Tuesday night, for which NPR gave him the green light. (NPR's chief communications officer told Berliner to focus on his own experience and not share proprietary information.) The NPR letter also did not cite his remarks to The New York Times , which ran its article mid-afternoon Thursday, shortly before the reprimand was sent. Berliner says he did not seek approval before talking with the Times .

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

Berliner says he did not get permission from NPR to speak with me for this story but that he was not worried about the consequences: "Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think."

Berliner is a member of NPR's business desk, as am I, and he has helped to edit many of my stories. He had no involvement in the preparation of this article and did not see it before it was posted publicly.

In rebuking Berliner, NPR said he had also publicly released proprietary information about audience demographics, which it considers confidential. He said those figures "were essentially marketing material. If they had been really good, they probably would have distributed them and sent them out to the world."

Feelings of anger and betrayal inside the newsroom

His essay and subsequent public remarks stirred deep anger and dismay within NPR. Colleagues contend Berliner cherry-picked examples to fit his arguments and challenge the accuracy of his accounts. They also note he did not seek comment from the journalists involved in the work he cited.

Morning Edition host Michel Martin told me some colleagues at the network share Berliner's concerns that coverage is frequently presented through an ideological or idealistic prism that can alienate listeners.

"The way to address that is through training and mentorship," says Martin, herself a veteran of nearly two decades at the network who has also reported for The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. "It's not by blowing the place up, by trashing your colleagues, in full view of people who don't really care about it anyway."

Several NPR journalists told me they are no longer willing to work with Berliner as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage.

"Newsrooms run on trust," NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben tweeted last week, without mentioning Berliner by name. "If you violate everyone's trust by going to another outlet and sh--ing on your colleagues (while doing a bad job journalistically, for that matter), I don't know how you do your job now."

Berliner rejected that critique, saying nothing in his essay or subsequent remarks betrayed private observations or arguments about coverage.

Other newsrooms are also grappling with questions over news judgment and confidentiality. On Monday, New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn announced to his staff that the newspaper's inquiry into who leaked internal dissent over a planned episode of its podcast The Daily to another news outlet proved inconclusive. The episode was to focus on a December report on the use of sexual assault as part of the Hamas attack on Israel in October. Audio staffers aired doubts over how well the reporting stood up to scrutiny.

"We work together with trust and collegiality everyday on everything we produce, and I have every expectation that this incident will prove to be a singular exception to an important rule," Kahn wrote to Times staffers.

At NPR, some of Berliner's colleagues have weighed in online against his claim that the network has focused on diversifying its workforce without a concomitant commitment to diversity of viewpoint. Recently retired Chief Executive John Lansing has referred to this pursuit of diversity within NPR's workforce as its " North Star ," a moral imperative and chief business strategy.

In his essay, Berliner tagged the strategy as a failure, citing the drop in NPR's broadcast audiences and its struggle to attract more Black and Latino listeners in particular.

"During most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding," Berliner writes. "In recent years, however, that has changed."

Berliner writes, "For NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."

NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner wrote in a comment for this story: "Minorities do not all think the same and do not report the same. Good reporters and editors should know that by now. It's embarrassing to me as a reporter at NPR that a senior editor here missed that point in 2024."

Some colleagues drafted a letter to Maher and NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, seeking greater clarity on NPR's standards for its coverage and the behavior of its journalists — clearly pointed at Berliner.

A plan for "healthy discussion"

On Friday, CEO Maher stood up for the network's mission and the journalism, taking issue with Berliner's critique, though never mentioning him by name. Among her chief issues, she said Berliner's essay offered "a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are."

Berliner took great exception to that, saying she had denigrated him. He said that he supported diversifying NPR's workforce to look more like the U.S. population at large. She did not address that in a subsequent private exchange he shared with me for this story. (An NPR spokesperson declined further comment.)

Late Monday afternoon, Chapin announced to the newsroom that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.

"Among the questions we'll ask of ourselves each month: Did we capture the diversity of this country — racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political geographic, etc — in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?" Chapin wrote in the memo. "Did we offer coverage that helped them understand — even if just a bit better — those neighbors with whom they share little in common?"

Berliner said he welcomed the announcement but would withhold judgment until those meetings played out.

In a text for this story, Chapin said such sessions had been discussed since Lansing unified the news and programming divisions under her acting leadership last year.

"Now seemed [the] time to deliver if we were going to do it," Chapin said. "Healthy discussion is something we need more of."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

• Katherine Maher
• uri berliner

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Joel Cauchi: who was the Queensland man who carried out the Bondi Junction mass stabbing?

Police say 40-year-old was an itinerant who moved to NSW last month and had a history of mental illness

• Joel Cauchi named as Bondi Westfield attacker who stabbed shoppers

Queensland man Joel Cauchi has been named as the man who killed five women and one man at the Bondi Junction shopping centre during a horrific mass stabbing on Saturday.

The 40-year-old was shot dead by a police officer, Amy Scott , who responded to the attack at the busy shopping centre while on duty for an unrelated matter.

Cauchi was known to police in New South Wales and Queensland for mental health-related matters. Police do not believe the attack on Saturday was terrorism-related or linked to any ideology.

According to his social media activity, Cauchi had been interested in surfing at Bondi beach as well as a range of social activities across Sydney , leaving frequent Google reviews for businesses he attended.

He was diagnosed with a mental illness as a teenager and had received treatment but his mental health had declined in recent years, police have said.

Here is what we know so far.

Who was Joel Cauchi?

Cauchi was a 40-year-old man from Queensland who lived an “itinerant” lifestyle, moving throughout the state before travelling to NSW last month.

Queensland police said he was single with no children, and believed he had been living in a vehicle since arriving to Sydney.

The Queensland police acting assistant commissioner, Roger Lowe, said Cauchi had been diagnosed with a mental illness aged 17, for which he had received treatment, but his mental health had declined “in the last number of years”.

His last contact with family was in March. Police said he would “periodically text his mother with an update to where he was”.

Cauchi was a member of a number of Facebook groups related to social activities throughout Sydney. He had posted in one group as early as last week, wanting to meet others for a surf at Bondi beach.

In January he had posted in a backpackers group seeking people to carpool with and explore Sydney. He also appears to have had a keen interest in astronomy, frequently posting in groups about this.

Queensland police said he was unemployed.

The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, said there would be an investigation for “many days, and perhaps weeks” into Cauchi.

Police would work to identify “the movement of the offender [on Saturday and in] the hours, the days, the weeks – his life leading up to yesterday”, Webb told reporters on Sunday.

What was the motive for the attack?

At this stage, police have not identified a motive.

Lowe said Queensland police had been liaising with Cauchi’s family throughout Saturday evening and Sunday. The family viewed footage of the attack on television and “believed that may well have been their son” before reaching out to authorities.

Lowe said the family was cooperating with investigations and had released a statement expressing condolences to the families and friends of victims involved in the tragedy.

“Equally, they have sent a message to the NSW police force with respect to support of the police officer who has killed their son and expressing their concerns for her welfare,” Lowe said.

Webb said whether or not Cauchi was targeting women would be an “obvious line of inquiry”.

What were his previous interactions with police?

Webb told reporters Cauchi was known to police in NSW and Queensland.

“He is not known criminally but he has come to notice of law enforcement in this state and Queensland for mental health-related issues,” she said.

Lowe said Cauchi had never been arrested in Queensland or charged with any criminal offence, with no record in the courts for a domestic violence order.

“He has been in contact with the police, primarily in the last four to five years,” Lowe said. “During that contact we are aware here that this individual has suffered from mental health.”

The last interaction Queensland police had with Cauchi was in December 2023, when he was street checked on the Gold Coast.

At a news conference, Lowe was asked if Cauchi had a knife obsession and had ever called the police on his family for taking away his knives. Lowe responded: “We’re aware of an event in 2023 which we’re investigating.”

But Cauchi had never been charged with any offence relating to knives, or found to possess knives in an unlawful manner that would warrant prosecution, he said.

When did Cauchi come to NSW?

It is believed Cauchi moved from Brisbane to NSW in March, one month before the attack.

He rented a “very small” storage unit in Sydney’s inner city which Guardian Australia understands was only about one cubic metre in size.

Webb would not confirm its contents but said anything found would form part of the investigation. Contents found so far had not revealed any motive, she said.

According to social media, Cauchi was raised in Toowoomba. He left a review for a local restaurant 11 months ago.

Lowe said he had moved around Brisbane to Kangaroo Point and Carina, then back to his family’s residence – understood to be in Rockville, near Toowoomba – over the past few years.

In 2019 the Toowoomba Art Society welcomed Cauchi as a new member, according to a newsletter at the time.

How do people describe his character?

The owner of a knife-sharpening business in Queensland, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Guardian Australia that Cauchi was an “odd” and “strange” guy.

Roughly three years ago, Cauchi had asked the business to sharpen his two “everyday knives”.

“Which I thought was weird,” the owner said. “He wasn’t a chef or a butcher.

“He goes, ‘Oh no, I just do a bit of dabbling in the backyard with the knives and I use them every day.’”

The business owner said Cauchi had not engaged in small talk and was “very to the point”.

“His expressions, he was just very vague, I suppose you could say,” he said. “No real personality about him, just weird. I heard he leaves one-star reviews on a lot of people’s pages all the time, so just that sort of person”.

Some of Cauchi’s reviews included a show at the Sydney Opera House five months ago (“absolutely loved it!”), a restaurant in Elizabeth Bay seven months ago (“absolutely delicious”) and a club in Sydney one year ago (“the atmosphere is pumping”.)

On the day of the stabbing, Cauchi calmly ate a lunch of red curry chicken with rice just hours beforehand.

Rogate Sianipar, 29, served Cauchi his lunch at Saigon Noodle in Oxford Street mall , about 100m from Westfield, just after midday on Saturday.

“He came at 10am but didn’t have any money so came back at 12,” Sianipar said. “He seemed confused when he ordered. Normal but confused. He opened his wallet and paid.”

• Bondi Junction stabbings
• New South Wales
• Australian police and policing

More on this story

Australia stabbings: attacker and four victims named – as it happened

Bondi Junction mass stabbing: NSW premier describes ‘anger’ and ‘grief’ in the state – video

Woman killed in Sydney stabbing attacks was trying to save her baby

‘I thought I was going to die’: Australian shoppers tell of horror of Bondi Junction mass stabbing

Sydney stabbing: seven people dead, including attacker shot by police at Bondi Junction shopping centre

'who does that to people': witnesses recount westfield bondi junction stabbing – video.

At Bondi Westfield someone said: ‘There’s been a stabbing, we have to go.’ I could see in her face it was real

Police officer who shot Bondi Junction attacker wielding a ‘massive’ knife hailed as a hero

Bondi Junction stabbing attack – what we know so far

Bondi Junction stabbing: seven people dead in Australia and baby injured in Sydney attack – video

Most viewed.

Defining historical moments from the year you were born

From wars to elections, international incidents to civil unrest, entertainment to sports, the key defining moments of history profoundly influence who and what we are today.

To discover some of the most iconic moments from each of the last 100 years, Stacker mined historical data, government reports, and newspaper accounts. While most years offered more than one major incident that helped mold our attitudes and beliefs, we strove to provide the most important, defining event of each year since 1920.

Some of these will bring back fond memories, while others may amaze or surprise. Several historic events also serve as painful reminders of senseless acts that hurt us all as we struggled to comprehend why and how they happened. In any case, each encourages reflection and evaluation of our world, perhaps with new insights into the consequences of the events that have helped shape who we are as a culture.

Keep reading to find out more about key events of the last century and which of these defined the year you were born.

You may also like:  103 iconic photos that capture 103 years of world history

1920: Women gain right to vote

With the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, women gained universal suffrage. Susan B. Anthony led the charge to give women the right to vote. Women voters since have greatly affected the outcome of elections and continue to make their voices heard to even greater effect.

1921: Babe Ruth smashes home run record

Legendary New York Yankees pitcher and outfielder Babe Ruth hits his 138th home run in June, breaking the career home run record held by Roger Connor for 23 years. The Sultan of Swat would go on to hit 714 home runs before his retirement in 1935, a record that held for nearly 40 years. Ruth is widely considered the greatest baseball player of all time.

1922: The Fordney-McCumber Tariff

Guided through Congress by Rep. Joseph Fordney and Sen. Porter McCumber, the Fordney-McCumber Tariff began in 1922 as a protectionist policy of charging high tariffs on European goods to reduce foreign competition. Other nations resented this policy, until they raised their own tariffs on American goods, leading to a decline in international trade. Similar policies enacted by President Donald Trump in 2018 threatened comparable declines in trade and higher consumer prices in the global economy.

1923: Insulin treatment for diabetes is mass produced

Discovered in 1921 and initially used successfully in 1922 in Canada by Frederick Banting, J.J.R. Macleod, and others, insulin treatment for diabetes began mass production this year with a highly refined treatment by the Eli Lilly Company. Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923. Today, more than 20 types of insulin are sold in the United States.

1924: Hoover named head of Bureau of Investigation

At age 29, J. Edgar Hoover was named head of the Bureau of Investigation, later to be known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and held that post until his death 48 years later. His reputation as a tough leader helped build the organization with modern investigation techniques and challenging criminal syndicates, as well as secretly monitoring organizations considered subversive. His influence greatly grew the agency, which continues to be an integral part of the federal government.

1925: Scopes Monkey Trial

Tennessee teacher John Scopes was charged with violating the state's Butler Act, which prohibited teaching evolution over divine creation. The trial pitted Christian fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution against attorney Clarence Darrow, with the prosecution prevailing despite Darrow's humiliation of Bryan. In many parts of America, opposition to teaching evolution remains today as efforts continue to either remove it from public school curricula or coerce schools to also teach creationism.

1926: Ford announces 40-hour workweek

The Ford Motor Company was one of the first in America to adopt the 40-hour, five-day workweek this year. Although his son Edsel said , "every man should have more time to spend with his family." Henry admitted the five-day workweek was instituted to increase productivity. Companies in the U.S. and worldwide followed Ford's lead, making the Monday-through-Friday workweek standard.

1927: 'The Jazz Singer' marks end of silent film era

The first film to synchronize dialogue with images, "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson became a huge success after debuting in New York. As such, the film signaled the emergence of talkies and the end of the silent film era. The movie's success established Warner Brothers as a major film studio.

1928: Mickey Mouse debuts in Steamboat Willie

Walt Disney's iconic cartoon character Mickey Mouse made his debut in the short film "Steamboat Willie" in 1928. Mickey was so popular that he continued to star in more than 130 films, with fan clubs and merchandise springing up. By 1932, the official Mickey Mouse Fan Club reached more than 1 million members, and he became the most popular cartoon character in the world.

1929: The Wall Street Crash

The stock market on Oct. 8, 1929, dropped 22.6% in a single day (known as "Black Monday") and reached panic proportions the following day ("Black Tuesday") when prices collapsed completely and led to the Great Depression. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. A similar crash occurred in 1987, and again in 2008 when $1.2 trillion was wiped out from the U.S. stock market.

1930: The Great Depression

The Great Depression kicked in in 1930 following the stock market crash a year prior. More than 3.2 million people were unemployed, and around 1,350 banks failed. By 1932, stocks were worth just 20% their value from their peak in summer 1929, and the worldwide decline reached its worst point in 1933 when unemployment reached almost 30%. The economy turned around after 1939 in response to World War II.

1931: The Dust Bowl

Farmers planting dry wheat and grazing cattle in the Great Plains overworked the land. That, coupled with a devastating drought, severely eroded the soil and turned the region into a giant dust bowl beginning in 1931. Huge dust storms were reported, converting millions of acres of once-rich farmland to dust. The drought affected 27 states as topsoil continued to erode and farmers abandoned their farms. By 1939, the drought ended and the region began to recover by using more sustainable farming techniques.

1932: Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins the presidency

Amid the ravages of the Great Depression, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidential election in a landslide over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover. FDR served four terms and led the nation out of the Great Depression and through World War II. His New Deal program included banking reform laws and emergency and work relief programs, among many others.

1933: Prohibition repealed

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of liquor, went into effect in 1920.  That legislation led to the rise of bootlegging and other criminal activities, including gang violence. Enforcement costs rose as support for Prohibition waned, and the advent of Roosevelt's presidency led to the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition.

1934: Hitler becomes Fuhrer

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler declared himself absolute dictator (Fuhrer) of Germany after the death of German president Paul von Hindenburg. With the German Army swearing allegiance to Hitler, the democratic government was dissolved to make way for the Third Reich. Under his rule, Germany became a totalitarian police state, leading to the vicious anti-Semitism that was a cornerstone of Nazi ideology.

1935: Social Security Act established

T he Social Security Act, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established a program of federal old-age benefits to be financed by payroll taxes on employees and employers. It later was extended to help the disabled and other groups. The act has been amended many times, including the 1965 Amendments that helped create Medicare.

1936: Rural Electrification Act signed

One of the most important pieces of legislation enacted as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was the Rural Electrification Act, which enabled the federal government to make low-interest loans to farmers who had created non-profit cooperatives to bring electricity to rural America, many of which continue serving those areas today.

1937: First blood bank opens

The nation's first blood bank opened in Chicago at Cook County Hospital, established by Dr. Bernard Fantus. Prior to the ability to collect and store blood, direct transfusions were required with the donor present. From the preservation of blood lasting 10 days, red blood cells could now be stored for 42 days. Blood banks helped advance modern surgery and medical innovation.

1938: Fair Labor Standards Act

Oppressive child labor conditions  and the need for a minimum hourly wage helped fuel the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Long sought by  President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said , "Something has to be done about the elimination of child labor and long hours and starvation wages," the Act went through numerous challenges and adaptations before becoming the law that set standards for minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor restrictions.

1939: World War II begins

Following decades of political conflict, Adolf Hitler began military aggressions by annexing Austria with little opposition. On Sept. 1, the Nazis launched an invasion of Poland and, two days later, France, the United Kingdom, and other nations declared war on Germany. The war pitted the Soviet Union and Great Britain (allies of the United States, which didn't enter the war until 1941) , against the axis of Germany, Japan, and Italy. The war lasted until 1945.

1940: The Battle of Britain

Seeking to gain air superiority over the United Kingdom, Germany's Luftwaffe and Britain's Royal Air Force battled in the largest sustained bombing campaign of the war to that date in the Battle of Britain. The British prevailed despite months of attacks on its air bases, military posts, and on the civilian population. The British victory saved the nation from a German ground invasion and possible occupation by the Nazis, and helped the allies eventually defeat Nazi Germany.

1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters WWII

The Imperial Japanese Navy launched an unprovoked surprise attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 in 1941, killing more than 2,400 Americans and wounding 1,000. About 20 naval vessels including eight battleships and more than 300 planes were destroyed or damaged in the attack, and the U.S. declared war on Japan the next day. America was further thrust into World War II when Germany and Italy declared war against the U.S. this year.

1942: Rationing and war bonds

As the U.S. participation in WWII intensified, Americans at home stepped up to sacrifice and do with less to help with the war effort. A rationing program set limits on gas, food, tires, oil, clothing, and many other commodities. Americans further helped the effort by purchasing war bonds, with more than 85 million Americans spending $185.7 billion on the bonds.

1943: Race riots

While WWII fighting raged in much of the rest of the world, the U.S. was rocked by numerous race riots in Harlem, Los Angeles, and Detroit. During riots in Detroit, where car-making factories were converted to build weapons of war, the influx of African-American workers strained housing infrastructure and led to increased racial tensions. Rumors sparked mobs that went on a 36-hour spree of violence that ended with 34 people killed and more than 1,800 people arrested.

1944: The Battle of Normandy (D-Day)

With the Nazis taking control of France in 1940, the Allies launched one of the most decisive turning points of the war this year with the Battle of Normandy, also known as D-Day, on June 6. The battle began with the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe and involved the largest invasion fleet ever assembled. Paris was liberated about 10 weeks later.

1945: World War II ends; Atomic bombs dropped on Japan

With the Allies closing in on Berlin, Nazi Germany surrendered on May 8, dubbed V-E Day (Victory in Europe). The American B-29 "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, followed three days later by an atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, which led to Japan surrendering unconditionally to the Allies on Aug. 14, effectively ending the war on V-J Day (Victory Over Japan).

1946: UNICEF created

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund  (UNICEF) was created by the General Assembly of the United Nations after World War II to provide relief to children in nations struggling to recover from the war. UNICEF continued its advocacy of children's rights, and in the 1980s was key to the creation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history . Only Somalia and the United States failed to ratify it.

1947: UFO crashes near Roswell, N.M.

Was it a close encounter with a ship from outer space, or was it a weather balloon? The latter is the original Army Air Force assertion about the remains of an unidentified flying object found in a sheep pasture outside Roswell, N.M. But many people believe the debris to be proof of an encounter with an extraterrestrial flying saucer, and believe there is a cover-up of the truth. The debate continues.

1948: World Health Organization established

T he World Health Organization (WHO) was created by the United Nations and  tasked with dealing with epidemic control, quarantines, and drug standardization. The WHO has since played a key role in eradicating smallpox and deals with communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Its priorities include assisting countries that seek progress toward universal health coverage and access to essential, high-quality medical products, among others.

1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization founded

Established originally as a collective defense pact meant to check then-Soviet Union aggressions in Eastern Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) today pushes for peaceful conflict management and democracy. NATO has the ability to take on a wide range of military operations, with 18,000 military personnel engaged in missions worldwide. The organization today operates in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and the Mediterranean.

1950: U.S. enters Korean conflict

When North Korea attacked South Korea in June of 1950, President Harry Truman committed American air and naval forces to defend South Korea from communist aggression. He soon committed U.S. ground forces, and the United Nations Security Council approved U.N. forces in Korea be put under U.S. command under General Douglas MacArthur. The "police action," which ended in 1953, left the peninsula as divided as it was before the war.

1951: Rock 'n' roll kicks off

Although the exact date of the founding of rock 'n' roll  remains  dubious , the genre was born sometime in 1951 when disc jockey Alan Freed coined the term. Blending the essences of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, and country, rock 'n' roll swept the nation throughout the 1950s and 1960s, changing the world of music and serving as a cultural and social catalyst. Variations of the genre are still popular today, with the original music still broadcast on oldies stations.

1952: World's first commercial jet takes off

British Overseas Airways Corporation launched its commercial jet airliner service with a flight of the de Havilland Comet craft from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, carrying 36 passengers, six crew, and 30 bags of mail. Although the success of the Comet later faltered due to deadly structural flaws, the jet engine revolutionized air travel around the world. The U.S. wouldn't enter commercial jet airliner service until 1958.

1953: Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated

World War II five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower served two terms as the 34th president of the United States. He is best-known for his support of the creation of the interstate highway system, signing the 1957 Civil Rights Act , and setting up a permanent Civil Rights Commission. He also signed a bill to form the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1954: Brown vs. Board of Education decision

This landmark Supreme Court case, which ruled that racial segregation of public school children was unconstitutional, is a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kan., filed a class-action suit against that city's board of education in 1951 after his daughter was denied entrance to an all-white school, claiming that segregation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The case moved to the Supreme Court in 1952, and the unanimous verdict by the justices in 1954 ruled in favor of Brown and led to the process of integrating schools nationwide.

1955: Disneyland opens in California

Disneyland was built for $17 million on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, Calif. Walt Disney designed the amusement park to be educational as well as amusing, and rides such as the Mark Twain steamboat, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Snow White's Adventures made a trip to Disneyland unforgettable for children of all ages. Today, more than 14 million visitors a year enjoy the park, spending close to $3 billion annually.

1956: Elvis Presley's popularity peaks

Rock 'n' roll icon Elvis Presley's popularity skyrocketed with music, movies, and television appearances. He released his first #1 single, "Heartbreak Hotel," and his self-titled album climbed to #1 this year, too. Presley also signed his first movie contract with Paramount Pictures for "Love Me Tender."

1957: Civil Rights Act extends voting rights to all

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 guaranteed all Americans the right to vote. The law prohibited the administration of literacy tests and poll taxes that had once effectively  disenfranchised the African-American vote in the South. A later version, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawed segregation in public places and prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

1958: Invention of the integrated circuit

Although transistors had been commonplace in radios, phones, and other electronics, working like a switch, scientists needed a whole circuit miniaturized for easier production. Inventor Jack Kilby discovered the circuit could be built out of a single crystal of silicon. Robert Noyce had made a similar discovery at Fairchild Semiconductor this year and today,  integrated circuits are the principal components of almost all electronic devices including microcomputers.

1959: Alaska, Hawaii become states

Purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, Alaska was considered a U.S. territory until it was granted statehood in 1959, making it the 49th state under a proclamation signed by President Eisenhower. Hawaii was annexed as a U.S. territory in 1898 and became the nation's 50th state later in 1959. Eisenhower signed an executive order for Hawaii's statehood; it and Alaska are the only two states not contiguous to the rest of the U.S.

1960: OPEC formed

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries  (OPEC) was founded in Iraq this year, with the first members including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. The organization's stated objectives  include unifying petroleum prices among its nations and ensuring fair prices and regular supplies to its customers. Today, OPEC has grown to 12 nations that produce about 40% of the world's crude oil, with exports representing about 60% of the petroleum traded worldwide.

1961: Soviets launch first human into space; U.S. soon follows

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human launched into space, completing a 108-minute orbital flight in the Vostok I spacecraft in April. Less than a month later, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard the Mercury spacecraft. Both feats were continuations of the so-called space race, which began in 1957 when the USSR launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite.

1962: Cuban Missile Crisis brings world to brink of war

The Cuban Missile Crisis began in October when then-Soviet Union installed nuclear-armed missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles off the U.S. mainland. American President John F. Kennedy announced his decision to place a naval quarantine around the island nation and made it clear the U.S. would use military force if necessary to remove the threat. War was avoided when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev removed the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.

1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated

President Kennedy on Nov. 22 was shot as his motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor of the building, fatally wounding Kennedy and seriously injuring Gov. John Connally, although controversy continues on the possibility of a conspiracy. That afternoon, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States.

1964: The Beatles arrive in New York

"Beatlemania" took over the United States in 1964 when the British rock 'n' roll band The Beatles arrived in New York in February as part of a world tour. Already at the top of the charts in the United Kingdom, The Beatles' arrival in the U.S. skyrocketed the Fab Four into international superstardom with the band's appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Beatlemania was just the start of the musical British Invasion, with bands including the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, the Searchers, and innumerable more following in the Beatles' wake.

1965: U.S. enters combat in Vietnam War

Although the U.S. had military advisors in South Vietnam  starting in 1955 , its first involvement in combat in the Vietnam War  began a decade later year. President Lyndon Johnson sent 82,000 combat troops to the country and escalated the U.S. commitment to 100,000 troops by the end of July. Massive anti-war protests broke out in the U.S. as a result, continuing during the latter part of the 1960s and into the early 1970s as more than 58,000 American troops were killed in the war.

1966: Miranda rights established

The United States Supreme Court in June decided in Miranda v. Arizona that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights before being interrogated. The case was taken up by the American Civil Liberties Union when suspect Ernesto Miranda was interrogated and confessed to kidnapping and rape in 1963. Miranda later recanted, claiming the confession was false and coerced.

1967: First Super Bowl ends in Packers blowout

The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League crushed the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) 35-10 in the first-ever world championship, to become known as Super Bowl I. The AFL won its first championship two years later when Joe Namath's New York Jets beat the favored Baltimore Colts 16-7. The two leagues merged in 1970 and were split into the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.

1968: Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy assassinated

James Earl Ray assassinated famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. April 4 in Memphis, Tenn. The assassination of King, who gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech to 250,000 supporters in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, led to an outpouring of anger among African Americans and mourning from the rest of the nation, which helped expedite the passage of the Fair Housing Act a week later. On June 5, Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate, in Los Angeles.

1969: America lands first man on the moon

The U.S. launched the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the moon July 16 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard. On July 20, Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module onto the surface of the moon and declared, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." The crew returned to Earth safely July 24.

1970: Environmental Protection Agency begins operation

The U.W. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began operating in 1970 in response to a growing national concern about deteriorating air, contaminated water supplies, and litter in once-pristine areas. Championed by President Richard Nixon, the EPA became an umbrella organization with duties transferred from other agencies along with funding for improved water treatment facilities, national air-quality standards, and approval of a national contingency plan for treating oil spills, among many other mandates. In 2018, under administrator Scott Pruitt and further exacerbated by President Donald Trump, numerous gains and research programs under the EPA have been cut, rolled back, or defunded.

1971: Pentagon Papers leaked

Former Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the so-called Pentagon Papers, which detailed government deception regarding the validity of the Vietnam War, to The New York Times in June of 1971. The administration of President Richard Nixon responded by going to the federal courts, which ordered the newspaper to cease publishing them under an injunction. But Ellsberg took the papers to The Washington Post, which along with the Times won a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court, saying the government had no right to prior restraints of the press, allowing the newspapers to continue publishing the documents under the First Amendment.

1972: The Watergate scandal

Several burglars were arrested during a break-in of the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate Hotel in June. Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward reported that a break-in and wiretapping of the offices of the Democratic National Committee by Republican operatives of President Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President was part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage. Seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the affair, with five pleading guilty, and two others convicted. Evidence proved Nixon was involved in the cover-up.

1973: OPEC enacts oil embargo

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut oil exports to nations providing military assistance to Israel in the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, when Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack against Israel to dislodge them from occupied territories. Israel, assisted by the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmark, prevailed, and OPEC imposed the embargo on the three nations after huge price increases. The embargo ended after successful negotiations in March 1974.

1974: Richard Nixon resigns

Facing likely impeachment for obstruction of justice and other charges related to the Watergate break-in of 1972, President Richard Nixon went on national television Aug. 8 to announce his resignation. The release of the Watergate tapes and other documents in 1973 implicated Nixon for obstruction of justice and other abuses of power relating to Watergate and other illegal activities. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president at noon on Aug. 9.

1975: Saigon falls; Vietnam War ends

The Vietnam War ended in April after aggressive assaults by North Vietnam led to the fall of Saigon in the south. Although the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973 to end the war, and most American troops had withdrawn, fighting continued until this year when South Vietnam surrendered. U.S. President Gerald Ford declared the end of the war April 23; the last remaining Americans were airlifted from the country by April 30.

1976: Comaneci scores perfect 10 in Olympics

Romanian-born Nadia Comaneci was the first woman to ever score a perfect 10 in a gymnastics event, achieving that milestone at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The 14-year-old gymnast garnered seven perfect scores and won gold medals for uneven bars, balance beam, and individual all-around, and a bronze for floor exercise. Her accomplishments sparked a revolution in the sport of women's gymnastics.

1977: Personal computer industry is born

First developed in 1974, the Altair was the first personal computer—but it wasn't until 1977 that mass-produced PCs became a viable, booming industry. The Apple II, Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80, and Commodore Business Machines Personal Electronic Transactor all entered the market that year and PC popularity waxed. As technology continued to advance and computers became faster, smaller, and more capable, computer sales reached 350 million units a year by 2013, when smartphones and tablets began to cut into PC sales.

1978: Golden age of arcade video games

The release of "Space Invaders" in 1978 sparked the so-called golden age of arcade video games . As a forerunner to modern video games, "Space Invaders" helped grow the global appeal  and diversity of computer gaming. Now w ith numerous advances in technology, video games are a $100 billion worldwide industry and hold massive cultural influence.

1979: Iran hostage crisis

Iranian students on Nov. 4 attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 hotsages. The revolutionary students wanted an end to America's interference in its affairs, with a focus on their revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The hostages were released after 444 days on Jan. 20, 1981 — the same day President Jimmy Carter's presidency ended.

1980: John Lennon murdered

Former Beatle John Lennon was shot in the back and killed just outside his New York home, The Dakota, on Dec. 8, 1980. His assassin, Mark David Chapman, said he shot Lennon so he could be famous. Lennon's post-Beatles work is laced with calls for peace and unity that cemented his legacy with such tunes as "Imagine" and his song "Give Peace a Chance."

1981: Sandra Day O'Connor named first female justice

President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The former two-term Arizona state senator garnered unanimous Senate approval. She was the deciding vote in a 1992 challenge to Roe v. Wade, effectively defeating the challenge, and was also the deciding vote in the 2000 election case, Bush v. Gore, which ended the recount of votes for president and upheld George W. Bush's victory — on which she later said the court perhaps should not have weighed in.

1982: Michael Jackson releases 'Thriller'

Michael Jackson released "Thriller" in November of 1982, featuring songs such as"Billie Jean" and "Beat It." The album is the Recording Industry Association of America's  #1 all-time best-seller with 33 million copies sold. Jackson's music videos of these tunes topped the charts, with "Thriller" becoming the highest-selling music video of all time. 

1983: U.S. Embassy, Marine barracks attacked in Beirut

A suicide bomber on April 18 crashed a truck filled with a ton of explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63. The dead included 17 Americans, some of whom were CIA officers. The Islamic Jihad Organization claimed responsibility, and  Hezbollah was blamed for a truck bomb attack in October on U.S. Marine barracks that killed 241 marines and sailors.

1984: Iconic Apple ad

The " 1984" advertiesement for Apple Macintosh's revolutionary personal computer  aired during during Super Bowl XVIII and was widely considered a watershed event in advertising. Based on George Orwell's dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four," in which everyone is expected to conform to the state , the ad's unnamed female protagonist fights back against conformity, indicating the computer would do the same when it proclaims " You'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984 .'"

1985: Live Aid concerts raise $125 million

The Live Aid concerts held simultaneously in Philadelphia and London on July 13, 1985, raised $125 million in relief aid to famine-stricken eastern Africa. The event, called the biggest rock concert and charity event in the history of the world, was broadcast worldwide to an audience of 1.5 billion people. Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially opened the concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Musicians included Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

1986: Space shuttle Challenger explodes

On Jan. 28, 1986, just over a minute after lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven crew members. The crew included teacher Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first civilian to travel into space, and astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, Francis Scobee, and Ronald McNair. The tragedy was blamed on the failure of rubber O-rings on Challenger's solid rocket booster.

1987: Stock market crashes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Oct. 19, 1987, plummeted almost 23%, the largest one-day percentage drop in history. The steep decline was seen worldwide, as 19 of the 20 largest markets declined by 20% or more. Although the market recovered quickly, stock exchanges implemented circuit breaker rules and other safety features to slow impacts of trading irregularities and give the market more time to correct itself.

1988: First use of DNA evidence convicts murderer

DNA fingerprinting  was used for the first time in 1988 and helped convict a murderer. George Wesley was found guilty of murder, burglary, rape, and other charges in New York after genetic material found in blood on his clothes matched with material found in 79-year-old victim Helen Kendrick's hair. Wesley was sentenced to 38 years in prison.

1989: Berlin Wall falls

The Berlin Wall was built in August 1961 by the communist East German regime to stop mass defections from east to west. More than 100,000 East German citizens tried to escape to the West, and at least 171 died at the wall. On Nov. 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to ease, East Berlin's Communist Party announced that citizens were free to cross the border, which led to the destruction of the wall and more than 2 million people celebrated in the streets.

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait; Operation Desert Shield launched

More than 100,000 Iraqi troops and arms crossed into Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, annexing the oil-rich nation. Operation Desert Shield was launched a week later to protect Saudi Arabia. In November, the United Nations Security Council agreed to use force against Iraq after the country failed to withdraw from Kuwait.

1991: Operation Desert Storm

After months of negotiations, and when the United Nations' sanctions against Iraq and Saddam Hussein's regime for annexing Kuwait fell apart, the U.S. led a 32-nation attack on Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. The attack, begun in January 1991, included six weeks of air attacks against Iraq's military and civil infrastructure. A coalition ground offensive began in February, and Kuwait was liberated in less than four days.

1992: Rodney King riots rock L.A.

Four Los Angeles policemen were acquitted in April of the vicious beating of Rodney King, an African-American man, despite graphic video evidence broadcast worldwide. King, who was stopped after a high-speed chase,  suffered skull fractures, broken bones and teeth, and permanent brain damage in the attack. After the acquittal, furious South Central Los Angeles residents who were fed up with racial and economic inequality in L.A. took to the streets for three days of rioting that resulted in more than 60 deaths, thousands of injuries, and almost $1 billion in damages.

1993: The Waco siege

Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on Feb. 28, 1993, raided the Branch Davidian religious compound near Waco, Texas after reports that self-proclaimed prophet David Koresh and his followers were violating federal firearms regulations. After a deadly gun battle, a cease-fire was arranged and nearly 900 law-enforcement agents surrounded the compound for what would be a 51-day siege. At that point, FBI agents fired tear gas into the compound and, after the attack, several fires broke out, which engulfed the compound as gunfire was heard inside. Seventy-six people died, including 25 children.

1994: Nelson Mandela elected South African president

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa after spending 27 years in prison for his campaign of peaceful, nonviolent resistance to the country's apartheid policies of racial segregation and white supremacy. Mandela, as leader of the African National Congress, worked with then-president F.W. de Klerk to reach an agreement in 1993 that would end apartheid in 1994 and earn them both the Nobel Peace Prize. As president, Mandela introduced new socio-economic policies that helped fund job creation, housing, and basic health care.

1995: Oklahoma City bombing

In April 1995, on the second anniversary of the end of the Waco siege,   Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols used a truck loaded with thousands of pounds of fuel oil and aluminum nitrate to attack the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla. A total of 168 people were killed and an estimated 850 wounded, making the Oklahoma City bombing the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States to that date. McVeigh was executed for the attack in 2001; Nichols was eventually sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms in prison.

1996: Mad Cow Disease linked to human deaths

Mad Cow Disease  (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a fatal brain disease found in cattle and transferred to humans eating beef. First discovered in the United Kingdom in 1986, the disease was linked in 1996 to 231 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a fatal brain disease in humans. The European Union banned British beef that year,  with other nations following suit. When Mad Cow Disease was found in the U.S. in 2003, major importers barred U.S. beef until 2007, costing ranchers and processors almost $11 billion.

1997: Princess Diana dies in car crash

Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash on Aug. 31, 1997, along with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul. Her Mercedes was being pursued by paparazzi and crashed into a concrete pillar in a tunnel at more than 60 mph. Numerous conspiracy theories abounded after the crash, but French and English investigations ruled it an accident caused by reckless actions of the paparazzi as well as by Paul, who was drunk and driving at twice the speed limit.

1998: President Bill Clinton accused of affair, lies

President Clinton was accused in January 1998 of having a sexual affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr began investigations that would eventually lead to a failed impeachment attempt. In his denial, Clinton said he "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky." In August, Clinton testified to the grand jury and admitted to inappropriate intimate contact, and the House of Representatives in December voted to impeach him for perjury and obstruction of justice in December. Clinton was ultimately acquitted.

1999: Columbine High School massacre

Two teenaged gunmen killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. on April 20, 1999.  Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before killing themselves. The duo also brought bombs to the school, apparently intending to kill hundreds of people.

2000: Supreme Court ends presidential recount; George W. Bush wins

With the 2000 presidential election hanging in the balance, fewer than 600 votes separated candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court ruled manual recounts should continue, but Bush filed a U.S. Supreme Court challenge, Bush v. Gore, to stop the manual recount. The court overturned the lower court's decision Dec. 9, giving Bush Florida's 25 electoral votes — and the presidency.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 terrorists connected to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden hijacked four airplanes. Two were flown  into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one struck the Pentagon , and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Overall, nearly 3,000 people died, including hundreds of firefighters, paramedics, and other emergency crew trying to evacuate the towers. On Oct. 7, the U.S. launched a coalition to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy bin Laden's terrorist network during Operation Enduring Freedom.

2002: Axis of Evil speech and prelude to war

Naming Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and their "terrorist allies" as an Axis of Evil seeking weapons of mass destruction, President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address said, "these regimes pose a grave and growing danger." He especially called out Iraq, claiming the nation flaunted its hostility toward America and supported terror. Bush argued Iraq's continued possession of WMDs and support for terrorist groups made disarming the nation a priority.

2003: U.S., allies attack Iraq

Three days after President George Bush issued an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq within 48 hours, which was ignored, U.S. and coalition forces launched an attack on Iraq. The coalition captured Iraq's major cities in three weeks and Bush declared the end of major combat May 1. But American and coalition troop casualties continued to rise as insurgent attacks against occupying troops continued to accelerate. No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

2004: Red Sox win first championship since 1918

The legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" was finally vanquished when the Boston Red Sox won their first championship in 86 years in October 2004. The curse legend stemmed from 1920 when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Sox came within one out of winning it all in 1946, 1975, and 1986, but couldn't close the deal. In 2004, the team was down to its final game against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship series before winning four straight to take that series and go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals .

2005: Hurricane Katrina slams Gulf Coast

Hurricane Katrina slammed into huge parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on Aug. 29, 2005, a day after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuations of that city. The storm surge overwhelmed many of the city's levees and drainage canals, putting about 80% of the city under some amount of water. Overall, the storm killed more than 1,800 people and damages topped $105 billion.

2006: Amish school shooting

Five young girls were killed by in 2006 by a heavily armed truck driver who barricaded himself in a one-room Amish schoolhouse with them in Lancaster County, Pa., and shot them execution-style before killing himself. Shooter Charles Carl Roberts IV told his wife he molested young relatives 20 years earlier and was dreaming of doing it again. Police said Roberts brought several items, including restraints, to the school, indicating he may have intended to molest the girls.

2007: Apple iPhone introduced

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January, launching a mobile revolution that continues to this day with new upgrades of devices and apps. It was the first true touch-screen phone, a feature most smartphone makers offer now, along with multi-touch features such as  pinch zoom in and out on a web page and motion sensor. Later versions of the iPhone made Apple the #1 global smartphone maker.

2008: The Great Recession devastates world markets

American and world markets began to falter in the summer of 2007 as falling housing prices, a glut of new homes on the market, and too many mortgages being offered to high-risk borrowers brought about the Great Recession of 2008. During the crisis, home mortgage foreclosures increased worldwide as millions of people lost their life savings, homes, and jobs. The Dow lost more than half its value over the next 18 months, with household net worth dropping $14 trillion.

2009: Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

President Barack Obama introduced the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in February 2009, to combat the Great Recession. The stimulus package included tax cuts, credits, and unemployment benefits; funding for shovel-ready public works projects; investments in education, science research, and technology; and other programs that, combined, added more than 4 million jobs overall in the first 18 months of the program. The recession ended five months after Congress passed and Obama signed the Act, with economic growth expanding in the third quarter.

2010: End of subprime mortgage crisis

Beginning in 2007, mortgages were expanded to include high-risk borrowers at a time of rising house prices, creating turmoil in financial markets that lasted until 2010. The collapse of subprime lending fueled a downward spiral in house values and was a key impetus for the recession, alleviated in part when the Federal Reserve lowered long-term interest rates and stimulated economic activity that stabilized the housing market by 2013.

2011: Japanese earthquake, tsunami

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami, devastated northeast Japan on March 11, killing more than 19,000, causing more than $300 billion in damages, and triggering a major accident at the Fukushima nuclear power station. The tsunami damaged backup generators at the plant and sent waves as high as 33 feet smashing the coast and flooding several communities. The water swept away enormous quantities of houses, cars, boats, and other debris, and radioactive contamination issues still plague Fukushima today.

2012: Shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Adam Lanza on  Dec. 14, 2012, shot and killed 20 first-grade students and six school employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The children were 6 and 7 years old. Lanza's rampage started with him killing his mother, who owned the weapons used, then killed himself as police closed in at the school. Investigators never found a motive.

2013: Boston Marathon bombings

Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the 117th annual Boston Marathon April 15, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260. Terrorist brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planned and carried out the attack on their own, also killing a police officer that night. Tamerlan died following a shootout with police, while his brother—who struck him with a car as he fled—was found guilty of 30 charges in 2015 and sentenced to death.

2014: Malaysian Flight MH370 disappears

Malaysian Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 filled with 239 passengers and crew, disappeared March 8, 2014, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The search for evidence of the flight's fate has been largely futile, and conflicting theories about what happened to the plane continue to this day.

2015: Charlie Hebdo attack

Twelve people were killed and nearly as many injured after al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January. The attack, led by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, occurred after the newspaper had published several controversial cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, the spiritual leader of Islam. The attack was one of several in Paris from Jan. 7 to  9.

2016: Russia interferes in U.S. presidential election

The U.S. intelligence community agreed in October 2016 that the Russian government had directed efforts to interfere with the U.S. presidential election, which was won by Donald Trump. Leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said in mid-May 2018 there was no doubt Russia undertook the effort. Sen. Mark Warner, the leading Democrat on the committee, said Russian interference was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to help Trump and hurt Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.

2017: FBI investigates election meddling, possible collusion

The FBI, beginning investigations regarding Russian election meddling in 2016, stepped up its investigation into whether members of President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russians to help Trump win the presidential election. Begun with then-FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired in May 2017, the investigation was taken over by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was appointed special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Mueller's report ultimate found no evidence of collusion, but would not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice.

2018: School shootings epidemic; students demand action

Multiple deadly school shootings in the U.S. prompted students to organize and demand gun-control action from Congress. After 17 people  were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla, by a former student, surviving students Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Alex Wind, and Jaclyn Corin began the #NeverAgain movement  to curb gun violence. On March 14, 2018, nearly a million students walked out of their classes in protest, demanding Congressional action.

2019: Climate change takes center stage

The U.N.'s General Assembly in March 2019 announced to world leaders there are only 11 years left in which to halt otherwise irreversible damage wrought by climate change. That striking claim—along with multiple 2019 reports of turbulent storm seasons, potential mass extinctions, and rising sea levels—have thrust the subject of climate change to the forefront of political debate, environmental activism, and new pushes by companies to reduce waste and go green. Major initiatives in 2019 so far have included the proposal of the Green New Deal (which was created in 2006 but until this year only featured into Green Party candidate platforms), a worldwide climate march, a student-led climate strike, and local and state moves pushing for a cleaner planet by banning single-use items like plastic straws and shopping bags.

2020: COVID-19 pandemic

It was Dec. 30, 2019, when a doctor working at Wuhan Central Hospital in Wuhan, China, sent out a text to a group of other doctors warning them to protect themselves against a new respiratory virus. By June 8, 2020, COVID-19 had caused the death of 404,360 people around the world , according to data from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine.

Trending Now

100 best films of the 21st century, according to critics.

100 best 'SNL' episodes

Best black and white films of all time

50 best colleges on the East Coast

Who is Nicole Brown Simpson? O.J. Simpson was accused of stabbing and killing his ex-wife

On Thursday, O.J. Simpson's family announced that the former NFL star and Hollywood actor died of cancer the day prior.

Besides his prowess on the field — he won the Heisman Trophy in his college days at Southern California and led the NFL in rushing four times — Simpson became a household name in American history because of a divisive murder trial. He was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson , and the man who was with her, Ron Goldman.

Brown Simpson became a well-known name in the news because of her high-profile ex-husband and the public nature of the trial, which is frequently labeled the "Trial of the Century."

She was known as a beautiful, loving woman whose life with her family was cut too short.

Who was Nicole Brown Simpson?

Nicole Brown Simpson was O.J. Simpson's second wife. She was stabbed and killed in 1994 at the age of 35, and her body was found outside of her Los Angeles home. The former NFL running back was tried for her murder and that of the man who was with her that night, Ron Goldman.

Brown Simpson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and her family moved to Garden Grove, California, when she was a child. She had four siblings. She was known for her blond hair and loving personality and was named homecoming princess in high school. She became an interior decorator and was a doting mother to her two children that she had with Simpson, Sydney and Justin.

"She was just so vivacious, so full of life," her older sister, Denise Brown, told the New York Times in a 1994 story of how Brown Simpson was dealing after divorcing Simpson. "She had just gotten it all together, and it was so exciting. I was so happy for her. For the first time in her life, she was able to have her own friends. We were talking about going to Yosemite, camping, taking the kids to Club Med. Everything was going to revolve around the kids."

Nicole Brown Simpson's marriage to O.J. Simpson

Nicole Brown Simpson met O.J. Simpson in at a Beverly Hills nightclub called The Daisy where she worked as a waitress. She was 18 years old. He was 30 and nearing the end of his football career. At the time, he was still married to his first wife, Marguerite Whitley. Simpson divorced Whitley in 1979.

Simpson and Brown Simpson were then virtually inseparable. They lived together, and she traveled with him. They were married in 1985. Later that year, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he credited her with helping him get through the end of his playing days.

They had a tumultuous marriage, and he was allegedly abusive. She called the police several times, and friends said they would notice bruises on her. Simpson Brown filed for divorce in 1992. After their marriage ended, Simpson would harass and stalk Brown Simpson until her death.

"She was not a battered woman," Denise Brown told the New York Times. "My definition of a battered woman is somebody who gets beat up all the time. I don't want people to think it was like that. I know Nicole. She was a very strong-willed person."

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Bob Graham, Former Florida Governor and Senator, Dies at 87

After the 9/11 attacks, Mr. Graham became an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s response and voted against invading Iraq.

By Robert D. McFadden

Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who as a little-known state senator cleaned stables and waited on tables in a clever populist strategy that helped to boost him into the governorship, the United States Senate and a run for the presidency, died on Tuesday at his home in Gainesville, Fla. He was 87.

His death was announced in a family statement sent by Chris Hand, a family spokesman who is a former aide to Senator Graham and his co-author on books about effective citizenship in democracy. Mr. Graham was disabled by a stroke in May 2020.

The son of a Florida state senator, Mr. Graham had gained little political traction after 13 years in the State Legislature. He seemed destined to rise no higher than his father. Then he had an idea.

Besides his official duties, he resolved to work eight hours a day in hundreds of mostly entry-level jobs to bond with his constituents. He performed what he called “Workdays” off and on for the rest of his career.

He was, for a day, a short-order cook, a bellhop, a social work aide, a plumber. He saw a murder victim on a night riding with cops. He was a department-store Santa, a citrus packer and an office temp. He applied for food stamps. He picked tomatoes under a broiling sun, filled potholes, collected garbage, cut down tree limbs broken after a storm and was a circus clown.

Voters and the press, especially television news programs, loved these “Workdays,” which became a campaign staple. Mr. Graham would win two terms as governor (1979-87) and three terms in the Senate (1987-2005) and make a heady but hopeless run for the White House in 2003.

When he retired from the Senate after 38 years of public life, Mr. Graham, an obsessive diarist of minutiae that read like an hourly log, had itemized all his “Workdays” experiences, as well as his activities as governor, senator and presidential aspirant. The record showed that, outside his official duties, he had worked in 921 more-or-less ordinary jobs in 109 cities and five states.

“I have a reputation, that is not undeserved, as being more of an understated person, and I’m not easily aroused to fervent, some people would say charismatic, levels,” he said in a campaign interview with The New York Times in 2003. “But I think maybe what the American people want right now is someone who can give them a sense of steady leadership, as opposed to an emotional jolt.”

He always relied on steady progress. As Florida’s 38th governor, he won high marks for educational strides in public schools and universities, as well as for economic programs that added 1.2 million jobs and raised per capita income above national averages for the first time. His environmental policies brought fragile lands like the Everglades under state protection. He was easily re-elected in 1982, and he left office as one of Florida’s most popular politicians, with an 83 percent voter-approval rating.

In the 1986 Senate election, he beat the Republican incumbent, Senator Paula Hawkins , 55 to 45 percent, and he won re-election over Bill Grant in 1992 and Charlie Crist in 1998 with about two-thirds of the votes.

Mr. Graham was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which killed some 3,000 people. After the attacks, he became a national spokesman on intelligence and security issues, and he was a severe critic of President George W. Bush and his administration’s response to terrorism and the long and costly U.S. involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Graham and 22 other senators voted against the invasion of Iraq by an American-led coalition in 2003 — an attack rationalized by Mr. Bush’s claims that Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, had supported Al Qaeda and had possessed weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Graham led a joint congressional investigation into 9/11, which in 2004 found no evidence of any ties between Hussein and Al Qaeda. Weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq.

Throughout Mr. Graham’s Senate years, his name was raised in vice-presidential politics. He was called a possible running mate to Michael S. Dukakis in 1988, to Bill Clinton in 1992, to Al Gore in 2000 and to John Kerry in 2004. Mr. Graham announced his own candidacy for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination in December 2002.

But that bid was a short dream. Within weeks he had open-heart surgery, and the campaign faltered. He withdrew from the race in October 2003 and, a month later, said he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2004. He retired when his term ended in January 2005.

Daniel Robert Graham, who never used his given name, was born on Nov. 9, 1936, in Coral Gables, Fla., to Ernest R. Graham, known as Cap, and Hilda (Simmons) Graham. By a previous marriage, to Florence Morris, Ernest Graham had three children, Mary, Philip and William Graham, Robert’s half siblings. Phil Graham and his wife, Katharine (Meyer) Graham , whose family owned The Washington Post, were co-owners of the newspaper, and he also became publisher.

Ernest Graham, a dairy farmer, mining engineer, real estate developer and Democratic politician, was a Florida senator from 1937 to 1944. His second wife was a teacher. Some genealogical studies suggest that the Graham family shared common distant ancestors with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Richard M. Nixon and Warren G. Harding.

At Miami Senior High School, Robert Graham received the Sigma Chi Award, the school’s highest honor for character, leadership, scholarship and service; was elected president of the student body in his senior year; and graduated in 1955. At the University of Florida, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society and received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1959. He earned a degree from Harvard Law School in 1962.

In 1959, Mr. Graham married Adele Khoury. They had four daughters: Gwen, Cissy, Suzanne and Kendall. Gwen Graham was a United States representative from Florida from 2015 to 2017, ran unsuccessfully for governor of Florida in 2017 and became an assistant secretary of education in the Biden administration.

He is survived by his wife, his daughters, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Mr. Graham lived in Miami Lakes, a town founded by his family. He began his political career in 1966 with election to the Florida House of Representatives from Dade County. He won a seat in the Florida Senate, also from Dade, in 1970 and was re-elected in 1972 and 1976 in a redrawn district that encompassed parts of northern Dade and southern Broward Counties.

Mr. Graham was a member of the Senate Education Committee when it held public hearings around the state in 1974. In Miami, he spoke of a dearth of civic awareness among students. In response, a frustrated high school teacher, Sue Reilly, complained that no one on the committee had any experience with education, and she challenged Mr. Graham to teach a civics class for a day.

He agreed, thinking it would never happen. But Ms. Reilly fixed a date at Carol City High School in Miami. Teaching for a day inspired Mr. Graham’s “Workdays” idea, and he decided to teach the civics class for a semester. In succeeding years, he incorporated such days into all his election campaigns, and in 1978, when he won the governorship, he published “Workdays: Finding Florida on the Job,” an account of his experiences in many occupations.

The book began a writing career that paralleled his rising political prominence. He wrote scores of newspaper opinion articles on state and national issues, and, in 2004, he and a speechwriter, Jeff Nussbaum, produced “Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia and the Failure of America’s War on Terrorism,” which detailed a dozen purported flaws in the nation’s defenses against terrorists.

After leaving the Senate, Mr. Graham taught for a year at Harvard, then created the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida as a forum for policymakers and scholars to train students for leadership roles. Along with Mr. Hand, he also wrote “America, the Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You” (2009) and a second edition, “America, the Owner’s Manual: You Can Fight City Hall — and Win” (2016).

He also wrote a novel, “Keys to the Kingdom” (2011), a thriller about a retired U.S. senator like himself and a Special Forces investigator racing to head off a Saudi Arabian terrorist plot to set off a nuclear weapon in America.

Alex Traub contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this obituary misspelled the surname of Mr. Graham’s opponent in his successful re-election bid in 1998. He is Charlie Crist, not Christ.

How we handle corrections

Robert D. McFadden is a Times reporter who writes advance obituaries of notable people. More about Robert D. McFadden

Reference.com

What's Your Question?

• History & Geography
• Science & Technology
• Business & Finance
• Pets & Animals

What Was Happening on the Day I Was Born?

Several online resources are available to help a person determine what was happening on the day he was born. A general Internet search of the birth date often brings up some relevant results as well.

The History Channel website offers “This Day in History,” which allows readers to search for what was happening on the day they were born by clicking the date on a calendar. For example, a person born on May 2 discovers that the infamous Loch Ness Monster was sighted along the shores of Loch Ness on May 2, 1933. Those born on January 5th learn that they share a birthday with the Golden Gate Bridge.

The History Channel website is one of the more reputable resources available, but it mainly focuses on important historical events. Many other websites offer insight into what was happening on specific days in history, but they may not have the same fact-checking standards. However, they often provide a wider spectrum of facts and interesting trivia about the day an individual was born, such as famous events, number-one movies and songs, and even the price of gas. Several sites also reveal the birthdays of celebrities and other famous people, allowing site visitors to find matches with their own date of birth.

MORE FROM REFERENCE.COM