Relations between the United States and Japan had been deteriorating quickly since Japan’s occupation of Indochina in 1940 and the implicit menacing of the Philippines (an American protectorate), with the occupation of the Cam Ranh naval base approximately 800 miles from Manila. American retaliation included the seizing of all Japanese assets in the States and the closing of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In September 1941, President Roosevelt issued a statement, drafted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, that threatened war between the United States and Japan should the Japanese encroach any further on territory in Southeast Asia or the South Pacific.

The Japanese military had long dominated Japanese foreign affairs; although official negotiations between the U.S. secretary of state and his Japanese counterpart to ease tensions were ongoing, Hideki Tojo, the minister of war who would soon be prime minister, had no intention of withdrawing from captured territories. He also construed the American “threat” of war as an ultimatum and prepared to deliver the first blow in a Japanese-American confrontation: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

And so Tokyo delivered the order to all pertinent Fleet commanders, that not only the United States—and its protectorate the Philippines—but British and Dutch colonies in the Pacific were to be attacked. War was going to be declared on the West.

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Early in the afternoon of November 5, 39-year-old Hasan, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is great”) and then opened fire at a crowd inside a Fort Hood processing center where soldiers who were about to be deployed overseas or were returning from deployment received medical screenings. The massacre, which left 12 service members and one Department of Defense employee dead, lasted approximately 10 minutes before civilian police shot Hasan and took him into custody. The counterfire left Hasan paralyzed from the waist down.

The Virginia-born Hasan, the son of Palestinian immigrants who ran a Roanoke restaurant and convenience store, graduated from Virginia Tech University and completed his psychiatry training at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003. He went on to work at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., treating soldiers who returned from war with post-traumatic stress disorder. In May 2009, he was promoted to the rank of major in the Army and, that July, was transferred to Fort Hood.

Located near the city of Killeen, Fort Hood, which includes 340 square miles of facilities and homes, is the largest active-duty U.S. military post. At the time of the shootings, more than 50,000 military personnel lived and worked there, along with thousands more family members and civilian personnel.

In the aftermath of the massacre, reviews by the Pentagon and a U.S. Senate panel found Hasan’s superiors had continued to promote him despite the fact that concerns had been raised over his behavior, which suggested he had become a radical and potentially violent Islamic extremist. Among other things, Hasan stated publicly that America’s war on terrorism was really a war against Islam.

In 2013, Hasan was tried in military court and acted as his own attorney. During his opening statement, he admitted he was the shooter. (Hasan had previously told a judge that in an effort to protect Muslims and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, he had gunned down the soldiers at Fort Hood who were being deployed to that nation.) For the rest of the trial, Hasan called no witnesses, presented scant evidence and made no closing argument.

On August 23, 2013, a jury found Hasan guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, and he later was sentenced to death for his crimes. His execution by firing squad is scheduled for December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood.

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Roosevelt was elected to a third term with the promise of maintaining American neutrality as far as foreign wars were concerned: “Let no man or woman thoughtlessly or falsely talk of American people sending its armies to European fields.” But as Hitler’s war spread and the desperation of Britain grew, the president fought for passage of the Lend-Lease Act in Congress in March 1941. The legislation would commit financial aid to Great Britain and other allies.

In August, Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to proclaim the Atlantic Charter, which would become the basis of the United Nations; they also drafted a statement to the effect that the United States “would be compelled to take countermeasures” should Japan further encroach in the southwest Pacific.

Despite ongoing negotiations with Japan, that “further encroachment” took the form of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7—“a day that would live in infamy.” The next day, Roosevelt requested and received a declaration of war against Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

Certain wartime decisions by Roosevelt proved controversial, such as the demand of unconditional surrender of the Axis powers, which some claim prolonged the war. Another was the acquiescence to Joseph Stalin of certain territories in the Far East in exchange for his support in the war against Japan. Roosevelt is often accused of being too naive where Stalin was concerned, especially in regard to “Uncle Joe’s” own imperial desires.

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“Upon learning this news, Nancy and I had to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way,” wrote Reagan, who had left the White House five years earlier. “In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.”

When Reagan was first elected in 1980, he was the oldest president to take office at 69 years old. As a political candidate, Reagan’s mental capacity was the subject of speculation, with critics citing contradictory statements and memory lapses. To address concerns about his age, Reagan promised to be tested throughout his presidency and to step down if doctors found signs of cognitive decline. “If I were president and had any feeling at all that my capabilities had been reduced before a second term came,” Reagan said in 1980, “I would walk away.”

Speculation about Reagan’s mental acuity continued during his two terms as president. According to his physicians, however, there were no warning signs of Alzheimer’s while he was in office from 1981 to 1989.

Just months after leaving the White House, Reagan fell from a horse and hit his head in July 1989. He suffered a subdural hematoma, which required surgery. After the accident, Reagan’s doctors began conducting annual mental cognition tests. They first observed conclusive symptoms of Alzheimer’s in the summer of 1993.

Reagan’s 1994 letter marked one of the first times a major public figure spoke openly about Alzheimer’s disease. By sharing his diagnosis publicly, he and his wife, Nancy, sought to raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding the illness—a commitment that led to the creation of the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute in 1995.

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Nixon campaigned on a platform designed to reach the “silent majority” of middle class and working class Americans. He promised to “bring us together again,” and many Americans, weary after years of antiwar and civil rights protests, were happy to hear of peace returning to their streets. Foreign policy was also a major factor in the election. Humphrey was saddled with a Democratic foreign policy that led to what appeared to be absolute futility and agony in Vietnam.

Nixon promised to find a way to “peace with honor” in Vietnam, though he was never entirely clear about how this was to be accomplished. The American people, desperate to find a way out of the Vietnam quagmire, were apparently ready to give the Republican an opportunity to make good on his claim.

During his presidency, Nixon oversaw some dramatic changes in U.S. Cold War foreign policy, most notably his policy of detente with the Soviet Union and his 1972 visit to communist China. His promise to bring peace with honor in Vietnam, however, was more difficult to accomplish. American troops were not withdrawn until 1973, and South Vietnam fell to communist forces in 1975. Nixon’s presidency was eventually marred by the Watergate scandal.

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The Dakota were found guilty of joining in the so-called “Minnesota Uprising,” part of the wider Indian wars occurring throughout the West during the second half of the 19th century. For nearly half a century, Anglo settlers expanded into Dakota territory in the Minnesota Valley, and government pressure gradually forced the Native peoples to relocate to smaller reservations along the Minnesota River.

On their reservation, many Dakota faced severe hardship as treaty violations, delayed annuity payments and corruption among federal agents and contractors left Native families on the brink of starvation. When traders refused to extend food on credit, tensions reached a breaking point.

On August 17, 1862, after four Dakota hunters killed five settlers following a confrontation over stolen eggs, some Dakota leaders concluded that war with the United States had become unavoidable. Fighting quickly spread across southwestern Minnesota as Dakota warriors attacked settlements, military outposts and trading posts while taking some settlers captive. The violence varied widely: while some Dakota spared or protected settlers they knew, others carried out deadly attacks, and tribal leaders struggled to maintain control as the conflict escalated.

The subsequent trials, which gave little consideration to the conditions leading up to the conflict or the different actions individuals took during the conflict, largely catered to settlers' demands for retribution. Conducted by a military commission, the proceedings moved rapidly (some trials took just minutes), defendants lacked legal representation and many did not understand the language or procedures. According to Carol Chomsky, associate professor of the University of Minnesota Law School, "The evidence was sparse, the tribunal was biased, the defendants were unrepresented in unfamiliar proceedings conducted in a foreign language, and authority for convening the tribunal was lacking."

Lincoln commuted the vast majority of the death sentences after personally reviewing the trial records, determining that execution should be reserved for those he believed had participated in massacres of civilians.

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Highlights of Wilson’s two terms as president included his leadership during World War I, his 14-point proposal to end the conflict, and his championing of the League of Nations—an international organization formed to prevent future armed conflict.

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Trump was first elected president in 2016, when he narrowly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton through the Electoral College to win the White House. After a tumultuous four years in office that included two impeachments (acquitted both times by the Senate), Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to former Vice President Joe Biden. On January 6, 2021, an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building. Three years later, Trump was once again chosen as the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.  

Months before Election Day, incumbent President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic candidate—the first to do so since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968—and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump soundly defeated Harris on November 5, 2024, becoming the second president in U.S. history to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first in more than a century.  

Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, was the only other president to lose the nation’s highest office and then win it back. Cleveland won his first term in 1884 and his second in 1892. In between, he lost reelection to Benjamin Harrison in 1888.  

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McBride publicly came out as transgender in 2012 at the end of her term as American University’s student body president. Politically active since childhood, McBride went on to become the first out trans woman to intern in the White House, the first to speak at the national political party convention and the first to serve in a state senate when she was elected to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District in 2020.

Transgender rights were a political flashpoint in 2024, when McBride ran for Delaware’s only House seat. Nationally, Republican-led state legislatures passed bills limiting medical care for trans youth, restricting bathroom use and barring trans athletes from participating in women’s sports.

McBride, a Delaware native and a Democrat, ran on a platform centered on issues such as affordable health care and paid family leave. On Election Day, she won 57.8 percent of the vote, claiming a House seat that had been continuously held by Democrats since 2011. 

“Here in this state, we have come to see our fellow citizens as neighbors,” 34-year-old McBride said about her historic victory. “With shared hopes and a common destiny.”

The politician was sworn in two months later on January 3, 2025, as part of the 119th Congress.

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McClellan was a promising commander who served as a railroad president before the war. In the early stages of the conflict, troops under McClellan’s command scored several important victories in the struggle for western Virginia. Lincoln summoned “Young Napoleon,” as some called the general, to Washington, D.C., to take control of the Army of the Potomac a few days after its humiliating defeat at the Battle of First Bull Run, Virginia in July 1861. Over the next nine months, McClellan capably built a strong army, drilling his troops and assembling an efficient command structure. However, he also developed extreme contempt for the president, and often dismissed Lincoln’s suggestions out of hand.

In 1862, McClellan led the army down Chesapeake Bay to the James Peninsula, southeast of the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. During this campaign, he exhibited the timidity and sluggishness that later doomed him. During the Seven Days Battles, McClellan was poised near Richmond but retreated when faced with a series of attacks by Lee. McClellan always believed that he was vastly outnumbered, though he actually had the numerical advantage. He spent the rest of the summer camped on the peninsula while Lincoln began moving much of his command to General John Pope’s Army of Virginia.

After Lee defeated Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run in late August, 1862 he invaded Maryland. With the Confederates crashing into Union territory, Lincoln had no choice but to turn to McClellan to gather the reeling Yankee forces and stop Lee. On September 17, 1862, McClellan and Lee battled to a standstill along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Lee retreated back to Virginia and McClellan ignored Lincoln’s urging to pursue him. For six weeks, Lincoln and McClellan exchanged angry messages, but McClellan stubbornly refused to march after Lee. In late October, McClellan finally began moving across the Potomac in feeble pursuit of Lee, but he took nine days to complete the crossing. Lincoln had seen enough. Convinced that McClellan could never defeat Lee, Lincoln notified the general on November 5 of his removal. A few days later, Lincoln named General Ambrose Burnside to be the commander of the Army of the Potomac.

After his removal, McClellan battled with Lincoln once more—for the presidency in 1864. McClellan won the Democratic nomination but was easily defeated by his old boss.

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Bush was the son of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. Both father and son worked in the oil business in Texas before entering politics. Laura taught elementary school in Houston before getting her master’s degree in library science in 1972 and becoming a school librarian. The couple met at a friend’s barbecue in 1977 and went miniature golfing on their first date. They were married three months later in a small, modest ceremony attended by family and friends.

Early into their marriage, Laura enthusiastically supported her husband’s bids for political office and over time became an astute and effective campaign asset. Still, Bush failed to win his first election (a bid for Congress in 1978) and the couple settled down to raising two children while Bush returned to the oil business. He served as CEO of Arbusto Oil (later renamed Bush Exploration Company) from 1979 to 1988 and became part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.

In 1986, while George H.W. Bush was serving as Ronald Reagan’s vice president, Laura Bush was discreetly instrumental in helping her husband overcome an addiction to alcohol. Two years later, Laura campaigned for her father-in-law’s successful presidential bid and in 1994 supported her husband’s decision to run for governor of Texas. In 2000, Bush became president in a contested and controversial campaign against Democratic Vice President Al Gore.

As first lady, Laura Bush successfully evaded the controversy surrounding her predecessor, the outspoken Hillary Clinton, by keeping a relatively low profile. She was careful in her choice of policy issues to champion, avoiding highly controversial subjects like health care and abortion rights. She often spoke in support of her husband’s education policies and was highly visible in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. At that time, she attended forums on the mental health of children affected by the terrorist attacks, and in 2003, after Bush ordered an invasion of Afghanistan, met with Afghani women who had suffered repression under that country’s Taliban regime. In November 2001, Laura Bush made history by being the first first lady to deliver the weekly presidential radio address in place of her husband. She and President Bush left the White House in January, 2009.

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In later testimony, Beverly Jones, a Rochester poll official in the election that pitted incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant against Horace Greeley, described the confrontation with Anthony.

“I made the remark that I didn’t think we could register her name,” Jones wrote. “She asked me upon what grounds. I told her that the constitution of the State of New York only gave the right of franchise to male citizens. She asked me if I was acquainted with the 14th Amendment to the constitution of the U.S. I told her I was.”

According to Jones’ written testimony, Anthony had approached him in a barbershop, set up as a voter-registration site, a few days before the election and challenged him about the 14th Amendment, which guarantees many rights to citizens.

“She wanted to know if under that she was a citizen and had a right to vote,” Jones wrote. “At this time, (the election supervisor) said, ‘Young man, how are you going to get around that? I think you will have to register their names’—or something to that effect.”

Anthony, who attempted to vote along with 14 other women (none of whom were indicted), was taken to jail on December 26, 1872. In her federal court case in June 1873, Anthony unsuccessfully argued that the 14th Amendment gave her the right to vote as a citizen of the United States. Judge Ward Hunt instructed the jury to issue a guilty verdict without any deliberation. Anthony was found guilty and fined $100, but she never paid it.

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Born in 1949 in Marshall, Texas, Foreman had a troubled childhood and dropped out of high school. Eventually, he joined President Lyndon Johnson’s Jobs Corps work program and discovered a talent for boxing. “Big George,” as he was nicknamed, took home a gold medal for the U.S. at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. In 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica, after winning his first 37 professional matches, 34 by knockout, Foreman KO’d “Smokin'” Joe Frazier after two rounds and was crowned heavyweight champ. At 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasha, Zaire, the younger, stronger Foreman suffered a surprising loss to underdog Muhammad Ali and was forced to relinquish his championship title. Three years later, Big George morphed from pugilist into preacher, when he had a religious experience in his dressing room after losing a fight. He retired from boxing, became an ordained minister in Houston and founded a youth center.

A decade later, the millions he’d made as a boxer gone, Foreman returned to the ring at age 38 and staged a successful comeback. When he won his second heavyweight title in his 1994 fight against Moorer, becoming the WBA and IBF champ, Foreman was wearing the same red trunks he’d had on the night he lost to Ali.

Foreman didn’t hang onto the heavyweight mantle for long. In March 1995, he was stripped of his WBA title after refusing to fight No. 1 contender Tony Tucker, and he gave up his IBF title in June 1995 rather than fight a rematch with Axel Schulz, whom he’d narrowly beat in a controversial judges’ decision in April of that same year. Foreman’s last fight was in 1997; he lost to Shannon Briggs. He retired with a lifetime record of 76-5.

Outside the boxing ring, Foreman, who has five sons, all named George, and five daughters, earned millions as an entrepreneur and genial TV pitchman for a variety of products, including the hugely popular George Foreman Grill. He died on March 21, 2025 at the age of 76.

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The strike’s key issues included the writers’ demand for a larger share of DVD revenues and payment for films and TV shows distributed over the Internet and other forms of new media. Late-night talk shows, which used guild writers, were immediately affected by the strike and went into reruns. Production also shut down on many prime-time comedies and dramas; however, some had stockpiled completed programming and were able to avoid going straight into reruns.

After a series of stalemated discussions, leaders from both sides eventually reached a tentative agreement, and on February 12, 2008, WGA members voted to end the strike and go back to work. The strike officially ended on February 26, when WGA members overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract with the AMPTP.

The impact of the writers’ walkout was felt across the entertainment industry, from actors to caterers to editors to set designers to animal wranglers. According to the Los Angeles Times, the chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation estimated the strike resulted in a loss to the local economy of more than $3 billion. The Times article stated: “Of that total, an estimated $772 million came from lost wages for writers and production workers, $981 million from various businesses that service the industry, including caterers and equipment rental houses, and $1.3 billion from the ripple effect of consumers not spending as much at retail shops, restaurants and car dealers.”

In 2023, the WGA went on strike again for 148 days.

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Under a series of able regents and then under his own brilliant leadership, Akbar brought the Mughal empire to unprecedented glory, extending Mughal power over most of the Indian subcontinent. Akbar the Great, as he is known, was as capable an administrator as he was a general, and he twice married Hindu princesses to ensure the unity of his empire. Although he never renounced Islam, he took an active interest in other religions and his court was a center of learning and culture. Akbar died in 1605. The Mughal Empire declined in the 18th century.

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At about midnight on the night of November 4-5, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes lurking in a cellar under the Parliament building and ordered the premises searched. Some 20 barrels of gunpowder were found, and Fawkes was taken into custody. During a torture session on the rack, Fawkes revealed that he was a participant in an English Catholic conspiracy to annihilate England’s Protestant government and replace it with Catholic leadership.

What became known as the Gunpowder Plot was organized by Robert Catesby, an English Catholic whose father had been persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I for refusing to conform to the Church of England. Guy Fawkes had converted to Catholicism, and his religious zeal led him to fight in the Spanish army in the Netherlands. Catesby and the handful of other plotters rented a cellar that extended under Parliament, and Fawkes planted the gunpowder there, hiding the barrels under coal and wood.

As the November 5 meeting of Parliament approached, Catesby enlisted more English Catholics into the conspiracy, and one of these, Francis Tresham, warned his Catholic brother-in-law Lord Monteagle not to attend Parliament that day. Monteagle alerted the government, and hours before the attack was to have taken place Fawkes and the explosives were found. By torturing Fawkes, King James’ government learned of the identities of his co-conspirators. During the next few weeks, English authorities killed or captured all the plotters and put the survivors on trial, along with a few innocent English Catholics.

Guy Fawkes himself was sentenced, along with the other surviving chief conspirators, to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. Moments before the start of his gruesome execution, on January 31, 1606, he jumped from a ladder while climbing to the hanging platform, breaking his neck and dying instantly.

In 1606, Parliament established November 5 as a day of public thanksgiving. Today, Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated across Great Britain every year on November 5 in remembrance of the Gunpowder Plot. As dusk falls, villagers and city dwellers across Britain light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, celebrating his failure to blow Parliament and James I to kingdom come.

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