Washington Monument completed

In West Virginia’s Marion County, an explosion in a network of mines owned by the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah kills 361 coal miners. It was the worst mining disaster in American history. In 1883, the creation of the Norfolk and Western Railway opened a gateway to the untapped coalfields of southwestern West Virginia. New […]

The Irish Free State, comprising four-fifths of Ireland, is declared, ending a five-year Irish struggle for independence from Britain. Like other autonomous nations of the former British Empire, Ireland was to remain part of the British Commonwealth, symbolically subject to the king. The Irish Free State later severed ties with Britain and was renamed Eire, […]

President Roosevelt—convinced on the basis of intelligence reports that the Japanese fleet is headed for Thailand, not the United States—telegrams Emperor Hirohito with the request that “for the sake of humanity,” the emperor intervene “to prevent further death and destruction in the world.” The Royal Australian Air Force had sighted Japanese escorts, cruisers, and destroyers […]

On December 6, 1969, in a shocking act of violence, a Hells Angel biker stabs to death an 18-year-old concertgoer a during a set by the British rock group Rolling Stones at the Altamont music festival. Altamont, a new festival in Northern California, was the brainchild of the Stones, who hoped to cap off their […]