Lesley Kennedy

Women's sports were widely condemned in the 1890s. Modern Olympics Games founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin called the activities "indecent," and even bicycle riding by women was decried as "vicious" by The Atlantic, a prestigious magazine. But the norms of the era didn't deter a ...read more

The Renaissance, roughly spanning the 14th to 17th centuries, marked a time of cultural, intellectual and scientific advances. From European discoveries of continents and shipping routes to new views of mathematics and astronomy to the advent of the printing press, the period of ...read more

Sometimes Hollywood gets portrayals of real-life characters and events right. But movie makers often spin a story for their benefit at the box office. Here are seven famous sports movies and the real stories behind each.  1. Raging Bull | 1980 Hollywood's spin: In the film, based ...read more

Although they were favored to win gold at the Olympics, some Americans failed to even medal. In an especially cruel twist, two sprinters didn't even make it to the quarterfinals at the 1972 Games in Munich. 1. Overhyped Decathlete Dave Johnson Settles for Bronze at 1992 Barcelona ...read more

The Olympic Games aim to help build a better, more peaceful world through sports. But in the 125-year history of the modern Games, the quadrennial international competitions have been marred by geopolitical drama, resulting in cancellations, bans and boycotts. Some Games, such ...read more

Minutes after its take off from New York’s Kennedy International Airport, a Boeing 747 headed for Paris exploded midair over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996, leaving all 230 people aboard dead. The four-year investigation into what caused the ...read more

Since America’s founding days, when voting was limited to white male property owners, to the transformative Voting Rights Act of 1965, to sweeping voting process reform introduced in the early 2000s, the right to vote in U.S. elections has seen massive change. The original ...read more

With the certification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920, women secured the right to vote after a decades-long fight. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on ...read more

Mashup inventions have changed all of our lives. Imagine how crowded nightstands would be if they needed to hold a stereo, speakers, clock and alarm signal. Or how pockets might bulge if people didn’t have a single, small accessory that folded a slew of tools in one handy-dandy ...read more

Founded in 1636 as a citizen force, the U.S. National Guard is a “ready” reserve group of 450,000 men and women voluntarily serving in all 50 states and four U.S. territories. Guard members hold civilian jobs and maintain part-time military training. They are called to service in ...read more

Champagne, noise makers and confetti are all New Year’s Eve staples. But, in some parts of the country and the world, so are black-eyed peas, lentils, grapes and pickled herring. Hailing from the Low Country of South Carolina to Japanese noodle houses to Pennsylvania Dutch homes, ...read more

As the official workplace and executive residence of the president of the United States, the White House stands as one of the most famous, and recognizable, buildings in the world. But behind its stately neoclassical facade, details of its construction and history are far less ...read more

Train robberies. Horse thievery. Cattle rustling. Shootouts. Cold-blooded murder. The most notorious outlaws of the Wild West have long been romanticized as daring robbers and swashbuckling killers since their stories first hit early American tabloids. In many ways, their ...read more

The gruesome 1979 IRA assassination of a beloved British royal—which took place the same day as a deadly coordinated attack on British troops—led to outrage, heartbreak and a heightening of “The Troubles,” the decades-long Northern Ireland conflict. The Provisional Irish ...read more

Brad Meltzer can pinpoint the moment he became obsessed with conspiracy theories. His 11th grade history teacher had just announced every high schooler’s dream: movie day. “And then she put on this Kennedy assassination film,” the best-selling author and host of the HISTORY ...read more

After an exhaustive 45-year investigation, the FBI in 2016 finally called off its official search for D.B. Cooper, the mysterious man who, on Nov. 24, 1971, hijacked a plane headed from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. In one of the most daring and unforgettable crimes in ...read more

It took just two hours and 40 minutes for the “unsinkable” RMS Titanic to sink. The much-heralded ocean liner, on its glamorous five-day maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, headed out across the Atlantic on April 10, 1912, counting among its passengers the ...read more

Five hundred thirty-seven votes. That's all that separated Democrat Al Gore and his Republican challenger George W. Bush when, on November 26, 2000, three weeks after Election Day, the state of Florida declared Bush the winner of its 25 electoral votes in the race for U.S. ...read more

Since 1852, 35 individuals have received the high honor of lying in state: 12 presidents, two vice presidents, plus members of Congress, unknown soldiers, military heroes, a city planner, and U.S. Supreme Court justices. Bestowed as a final tribute to distinguished government ...read more

The Hatch Act was signed into law in 1939 to keep federal employees from engaging in political activities while they’re on the job. It was also designed to ensure federal employees don’t face political pressures as they perform their work. While numerous federal employees have ...read more

When Walter Mondale announced Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate during the 1984 presidential campaign, the three-term New York Congresswoman called the historic choice a "powerful signal" to all Americans. “There are no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on ...read more

When a natural disaster, pandemic, war or of other crisis strikes, Americans have reacted with acts of kindness, turning both regular civilians and notables into heroes. According to Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in ...read more

In 1972, it seemed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was all but a sure thing. First introduced to Congress in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, the proposed 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which stated "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or ...read more

For all the pomp and circumstance that once surrounded presidential party conventions, they’re rarely all that dramatic today. In fact, the last time Democrats faced a tight delegate race was in 1980, when Jimmy Carter narrowly edged out Ted Kennedy for the nomination, avoiding a ...read more

From its Puritan roots to complaints of rampant commercialism (“What is it you want?” Charlie Brown asks Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas. “Real Estate.”), Christmas in America has been filled with traditions, old and new. Some date back to 16th-century Germany or even ancient ...read more

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" could have turned out dramatically different had it not been for astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s ingenuity in averting disaster with a simple felt-tip pen. Following the Apollo 11 historic July 20, 1969, moonwalk, Aldrin and Neil ...read more

George Washington is widely known as the first U.S. president and Revolutionary War hero who supposedly cut down a cherry tree and had wooden teeth. But few may know the founding father was also a dog lover who even bred his own unique breed. Andrew Hager, historian-in-residence ...read more

One was an avid capitalist, an actor-turned-U.S. president determined to quash America’s nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union’s “evil empire.” The other, a young committed communist who rose through the political ranks to lead the USSR, pushing publicly for reform. But Ronald ...read more

On November 5, 1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt broke a long-held precedent—one that started with George Washington—when he became the first president elected to a third term. Roosevelt would go on to vie for, and win, yet a fourth term, taking office again on January 20, 1945. FDR ...read more

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow resurfaces every year around Halloween. Washington Irving's 1820 tale of a headless horseman who terrorizes the real-life village of Sleepy Hollow is considered one of America's first ghost stories—and one of its scariest. But Irving didn’t invent the ...read more

The executive branch enforces laws. The judicial branch interprets laws. But it is in the law-making legislative branch, says Howard Schweber, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, “that the people deliberate and arrive at an agreement about the common ...read more

Earth’s beginnings can be traced back 4.5 billion years, but human evolution only counts for a tiny speck of its history. The Prehistoric Period—or when there was human life before records documented human activity—roughly dates from 2.5 million years ago to 1,200 B.C. It is ...read more

Freedom of speech, religion and the press. The right to assemble, bear arms and due process. These are just some of the first 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. But they weren’t included in the original U.S. Constitution, and James Madison, the bill’s chief drafter, ...read more

The Spanish-American War, while dominating the media, also fueled the United States’ first media wars in the era of yellow journalism. Newspapers at the time screamed outrage, with headlines including, “Who Destroyed the Maine? $50,000 Reward,” “Spanish Treachery” and “Invasion!” ...read more

When the U.S. Congress passed—and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law—the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, the move was largely seen as symbolic. "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants,” lead supporter Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-Mass.) told the ...read more

Spahn Movie Ranch was once used as a Hollywood TV and movie set for family-friendly productions, including “Bonanza” and “The Lone Ranger,” but the isolated, run-down property may be best known for playing a role in one of America’s most notorious real-life crimes. After being ...read more

Kids have been riding buses to get to school since the 1920s. But the practice became politically charged when desegregation busing, starting in the 1950s, attempted to integrate schools. The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas ...read more

Innocent song using the symbol of a playground slide as a metaphor, or subliminal lyrics inciting a race war and murder? Ask Paul McCartney what he was thinking when he wrote the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter,” and it’s the former. But, according to Charles Manson, the “White Album” ...read more

They toiled through back-breaking labor during both frigid winters and blazing summers. Hundreds died from explosions, landslides, accidents and disease. And even though they made major contributions to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, these 15,000 to 20,000 ...read more

When Argentina’s military junta invaded the Falkland Islands, a British colony, in April 1982, Margaret Thatcher’s political future was in serious question. Britain's first female prime minister was facing sharp criticism from both her cabinet and the public in response to her ...read more

The English claimed many offenses against Joan of Arc. But when they burned her at the stake in Rouen, France on May 30, 1431, they not only immortalized the 19-year-old, but made her a national symbol for the French cause during the long-fought Hundred Years’ War. Born a ...read more

If you thought Mardi Gras—that annual celebration that marks the last day before the Christian season of Lent—began in New Orleans, you’re clearly not from Alabama. Although The Big Easy in Louisiana is perhaps best-known for its Mardi Gras revelry, the port city of Mobile, ...read more

It was a plan that read like science fiction: A system armed with an array of space-based X-ray lasers would detect and deflect any nukes headed toward the United States. President Ronald Reagan saw the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as a safeguard against the most ...read more

If anyone had cause to wonder about the allure of the candy cane, look no further than the words of Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf: “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” In fact, according to the National Confectioners ...read more

Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, known for his famous, fatal duel with Aaron Burr—and his ability to draw sold-out crowds to a hit musical examining his life—played a key role in a battle that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War. And in ...read more

In 1975, Rev. Jim Jones, the religious cult leader and civil rights activist, hinted at things to come. “I love socialism, and I’m willing to die to bring it about, but if I did, I’d take a thousand with me,” he said during a sermon at his Peoples Temple church in San Francisco. ...read more

A secret war-time meeting. Fear of an oil shortage. An exchange of gifts (including a wheelchair) and a budding friendship. When Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on February 14, 1945 aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Suez Canal, it was the first time a U.S. ...read more

A balanced budget amendment. Tax cuts. Welfare reform. Those were just three of the 10 points of the Contract with America, Newt Gingrich's conservative plan, signed by 300-plus Republican candidates and presented at a press conference just six weeks before the 1994 midterm ...read more