1968: First 911 Emergency Phone Introduced
This day in 1968 marked the first time in history that a call was made to the number 911 in the USA. Earlier in U.S. history there was no unified number for all emergency...
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1949: First Session of the Israeli Parliament (Kneset)
The Parliament named itself the Kneset (Hebrew for “assembly”), and still uses that name today. It is interesting that 9 of 12 members of the first Israeli government wer...
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1929: How was the Vatican City State Established?
It is important to emphasize that the Vatican City State is not the same as the Holy See (the leadership of the Catholic Church), although the media usually correlates th...
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1938: First Science Fiction TV Program
On this day in 1938 the first science fiction TV program in history was broadcast. It was an adaptation of Karl Čapek’s science fiction drama R.U.R. These initials...
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1626: Ethiopia Recognizes the Pope and Joins the Catholic Church
On this day in 1626 Ethiopian emperor Susenyos I solemnly pledged allegiance to the pope and the Catholic Church. He did this in the presence of Alfonso Mendes, a Jesuit...
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1881: Death of Russian Novelist Dostoyevsky
This day in 1881 marked the death of famous Russian novelist Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky. The writer died in St. Petersburg, which was at that time the capital of the...
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1984: Winter Olympics Opened in Sarajevo
They were XIV Olympic Winter Games and the first that were ever held in a socialist country. The opening ceremony of the 1984 Winter Olympics was held on this day in Sara...
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1962: Kennedy Orders 1,200 Cigars from Cuba just before the Embargo
The American embargo on the import and export of products from Cuba was introduced on this day in 1962, as a response to Castro’s nationalization of the property of Unite...
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