Discover the people and events that document the American story. Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 starting at 8 am ET or online anytime at c-span.org/history.
Washington, DC
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50 years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. This weekend, Reel America commemorates his death. #MLK50
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TONIGHT - @SenJohnMcCain talks about the Vietnam War's legacy on C-SPAN, at 6 & 10pm ET.
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In 1967, #OnThisDay, taping began for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In 1969, Mr. Rogers testified before a Senate Committee to advocate for educational programming and public broadcasting funding.
"Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars." #FlashbackFriday
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Last night, @CapitolHistory presented @Lin_Manuel with the 2017 Freedom Award for #Hamilton. Watch on C-SPAN 3 on 10/1 at 9pm ET.
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"Four score & seven years ago" - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address #OTD 1863. LEARN MORE: cs.pn/2gqk4MO
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"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - #OnThisDay in 1987 #POTUS Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall calling for the reunification of East and West Germany.
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For a limited time, the suit coat that George Washington wore to his first inauguration in New York will be on display to the public at @MountVernon (1/17-2/3)
@cspan AHTV got a rare glimpse of the coat today before it was readied for viewing.
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"Historians have a special knowledge about our past and there are a lot of mistruths being spun about that… and we have a duty to step in and correct those." - @KevinMKruse Watch the full interview on Sunday 6:45pm & 10:45pm ET on C-SPAN 3. #twitterstorians
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#OnThisDay in 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the "Stars and Stripes" flag: Learn more about the #history of the American flag: cs.pn/2tmdnh6 #StarsandStripes #FlagDay
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#OnThisDay in 1993 #SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in. #RGB Watch the full ceremony in our free @cspan video library: cs.pn/2vplZpr
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My two sisters were taken to Auschwitz where they were killed and they were only 5 and 7 years old." - Alfred “Al” Münzer
Earlier today we visited the @HolocaustMuseum to hear survivor stories. #HolocaustRemembranceDay
Here is more of his story: ushmm.org/remember/holocaust…
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"If they persist, pull the plug...it's still watch closely and don't be afraid to see what you see." From Ronald Reagan's 1989 farewell address talking about a trip to Moscow and the differences between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. #ThrowbackThursday
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Pearl Harbor is attacked #OnThisDay in 1941, "A date which will live in infamy" #PearlHarborRemembranceDay
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"There is life after the White House, and it can be a very full life." From 2011, here is what Rosalynn Carter had to say about fellow former First Lady Betty Ford. Watch the tribute service for former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, today at 1pm ET on @cspan
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#OnThisDay in 1962, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. In a flight lasting just under five hours, he orbited the earth three times in the Friendship 7.
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Happy #FlagDay! #OnThisDay in 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as our national flag. Learn more about the flag and its history in our free @cspan video library: c-span.org/video/?473421-1/f…
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We have over 400 programs on the #CivilWar. And 180 on #AndrewJackson, if you're interested. cs.pn/2dLFtiC
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Which party changed the most since 1968?
WATCH "1968: America in Turmoil" Sundays at 8:30am ET on C-SPAN 1 & 3. #cspan68
Upcoming topics 4/8: Liberal Politics, 4/15: Conservative Politics
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Republicans
56%
Democrats
25,822 votes • Final results
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#OnThisDay in 1993 #SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in. #RGB Watch the full ceremony in our free @cspan video library: cs.pn/2vplZpr
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Was the U.S. winning the Vietnam War in 1968? This Sunday watch our new series, "1968: America in Turmoil," on C-SPAN & C-SPAN3 at 8:30am ET
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Yes
62%
No
11,490 votes • Final results
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Do you support the reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment? This Sunday on "1968: America in Turmoil," we'll discuss Women's Rights. WATCH on @cspan at 8:30am ET.
68%
Yes
32%
No
22,551 votes • Final results
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Speaking about the cameras in the @NASA control center during Apollo 11, engineer @poppy_northcutt, "Let everybody who is not in this damn room know, there is a woman here. I'm here. Get used to it." Watch more of this @airandspace program on Sunday at 7pm ET on C-SPAN 3.
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Presenting the White House with a turkey has been a long standing tradition, and some birds were spared, but it wasn't until 1989 that #POTUS George H. W. Bush used the term "pardon." Here's a #throwback to Eisenhower, who did later have turkey dinner. #turkeypardon #thanksgiving
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"Mr. President, I object to the certificate from Florida." #OnThisDay in 2001, several objections raised in the joint session of representatives and senators to certify Electoral College ballots submitted by the states.
Watch more @cspan & in our free video library. #history #otd
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In 2017, over 90 historians ranked former presidents, and these are the Unfavorable Eight. Over the next few days, you can vote for the Worst of the Worst. First vote later today. View the full ranking and find out how they were compared: c-span.org/presidentsurvey20… #twitterstorians
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#DYK you can watch archival films anytime in our video library? Check out Reel America: cs.pn/2qAmQE4 #FlashbackFriday #history
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Who would you have supported in 1968?
WATCH "1968: American in Turmoil" this Sunday at 8:30am ET for more on the this presidential campaign. On C-SPAN 1 & 3. #cspan68
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Richard Nixon
62%
Ronald Reagan
14%
Nelson Rockefeller
8%
George Wallace
15,877 votes • Final results
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"I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black & proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country although I am a woman." #OnThisDay in 1972, Rep. Shirley Chisholm announced her bid to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
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This weekend we'll have 48 hours of programming on the #VietnamWar. What do you think: Was the American war in Vietnam worth the sacrifice?
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Yes
55%
No
26%
Yes, but get out earlier
21,710 votes • Final results
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“The right of citizens of the US to vote shall not be denied or abridged...on account of sex” #OnThisDay in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified. Learn more: cs.pn/2BljWcB
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"A date which will live in infamy" - Pearl Harbor was attacked #OnThisDay in 1941 #PearlHarborRemembranceDay
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This Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), #WeRemember the victims and perseverance of the survivors. We recently visited the @HolocaustMuseum to hear from survivors and learn their stories, here's a portion.
Watch the full program here: c-span.org/video/?525626-1/h…
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#FLOTUS Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the nation in a radio address after #PearlHarbor in 1941.
"We know what we have to face and we know that we are ready to face it."
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It's April 1917. You are a member of congress. Cast your vote regarding a Declaration of War on Germany:
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Yea
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Nea
8,169 votes • Final results
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John McCain has died at age 81. In 1992 C-SPAN visited the prison in Vietnam where he was held as a POW. McCain responded to the footage and commented on his war experience.
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Who would you have supported in 1968?
WATCH "1968: American in Turmoil" this Sunday at 8:30am ET for more on the this presidential campaign. On C-SPAN 1 & 3. #cspan68
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Lyndon B. Johnson
73%
Robert F. Kennedy
7%
Eugene McCarthy
6%
Hubert Humphrey
9,360 votes • Final results
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"Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism." Starting soon at 6:30pm ET on @cspan 3 - Al Gore's Concession Speech from 2000. Watch more: c-span.org/video/?161263-1/a… #president #election
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"Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black,
one white - separate and unequal" – 1968 Kerner Report
Was the civil rights movement succeeding in 1968?
WATCH "1968: American in Turmoil" this Sun at 8:30am ET on C-SPAN 1 & 3. #cspan68
54%
Yes
46%
No
12,451 votes • Final results
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"A date which will live in infamy..." - Pearl Harbor was attacked #OnThisDay in 1941. Learn more in our free @cspan video library: bit.ly/3gxcEnf #PearlHarborRemembranceDay #PearlHarbor79
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#OnThisDay President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions." Watch more in our video library. #civilrights #history
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This weekend, AHTV visits @MountVernon 's secured storage area to see the suit coat that Washington wore in 1789 for his first inauguration. It is seldom seen in public! Watch 'George Washington's 1789 Inaugural Suit' on 1/18 at 3:25pm ET on #CSPAN2: c-span.org/event/american-hi…
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In 1967, #OnThisDay, taping began for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In 1969, Mr. Rogers testified before a Senate Committee to advocate for educational programming & public broadcasting funding.
"Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars." More: c-span.org/person/?fredroger…
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In 1915, #CivilWar veterans paraded down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC for the 50th anniversary of end of the war. #memorialday
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75 years ago, #OnThisDay in 1944, Allied forces invaded Nazi-occupied France. This was General Dwight Eisenhower's message to the troops before they embarked.
"I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle." #DDay75 #WWII
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#OnThisDay in 1993 #SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in. #RGB Watch the ceremony: cs.pn/2vplZpr
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"I have no other [ambition] so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem." - Lincoln 1832.
Abraham Lincoln was born #OnThisDay in 1809. Want more #Lincoln? Select from over 800 programs on him: cs.pn/2S13NfG
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#OnThisDay in 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated public bus, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
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30 years ago, President #Reagan made his last official address from the Oval Office. He reflected on his term in office, global affairs, and what it means to be an American. "An informed patriotism is what we want...America is freedom." #OnThisDay 1989 #POTUS
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Was it necessary for the U.S. to drop an atomic bomb to force Japan to surrender? Join @cspanhistory & @cspanwj on Aug 6 at 8am ET for a LIVE program looking at #Hiroshima75 & the end of #WWII, featuring guests @IanWToll & Clifton Truman Daniel. Watch on @cspan.
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Yes, on Hiroshima
12%
Yes, but somewhere else
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No
10,988 votes • Final results
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"Even though we face the difficultes of today and tomorrow, I still have
a dream." #OnThisDay in 1963 Dr Martin Luther King Jr delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Watch more of the March on Washington cs.pn/2wVI027
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#POTUS George Washington laid the cornerstone for the @WhiteHouse #OnThisDay in 1792. No idea what a Masonic cornerstone laying ceremony looks like? Click here to see the @USCapHis cornerstone reenactment: cs.pn/2yw0J36
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What caused the Civil War? We have over 400 programs you can learn from. Watch every Saturday at 6pm ET on C-SPAN 3. cs.pn/2dLFtiC
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WWHD "What would Harry do?...Harry S. Truman would fight, and fight to win." @Kasparov63 speaking at the @TrumanLibrary about Truman's leadership during the Berlin Airlift & lessons that can be applied to today's global conflicts. Watch more, Sat, July 22 at 7pm ET on @cspan 2
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#Throwback to the 1993 confirmation hearing of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While introducing her family, she showed a book made by her grandson...
Watch more in @cspan's free video library: c-span.org/video/?45719-1/gi…
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Starting Monday - @cspanhistory & @cspanwj will be LIVE from a different museum each morning. Join us from 9-10am ET on @cspan and watch a replay each evening at 8pm ET on C-SPAN 3. Full Museum Week schedule here: cs.pn/2SMrzhE
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#OnThisDay in 1964, Margaret Chase Smith, first woman to serve in both the House & Senate, announced her bid to run for the Republican presidential nomination.
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#OnThisDay President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions." Watch more in our video library. #civilrights #history
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"It ought to be possible for every American, to enjoy the privileges of being American, without regard to his race, or his color." #OnThisDay on 1963, President Kennedy delivered an Oval Office address on civil rights. Watch the full address: cs.pn/30zZQ9s
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"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - #OnThisDay in 1987 #POTUS Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall calling for the reunification of East and West Germany. Watch more: c-span.org/video/?429314-1/p…
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#OnThisDay in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. Later that day, President Reagan addressed the nation and postponed his #SOTU address.
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"Don't Be a Sucker" produced by the War Department in the wake of WWII. WATCH Aug 26 at 10pm ET on C-SPAN 3.
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What to do when an atomic bomb comes - 1950s edition. Duck and Cover.
Watch Lectures in History #BackToSchool week - tonight on C-SPAN 3.
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"I think this march will go down as...the greatest demonstrations for freedom & human dignity." #OnThisDay in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Watch more cs.pn/2wVI027
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New #JFKFiles to be released today...learn about the @USNatArchives collection & see iconic artifacts. #history #jfk100
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Have you heard the one about ordering pants? We're talking about LBJ's White House tapes. Saturday at 2pm ET on @cspan 2, learn about a new web site with 650 hours of LBJ's White House phone calls. Hosted by @LBJLibrary & @Miller_Center with @BeschlossDC @BWilliams
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Given the destruction to Hiroshima from the first atomic bomb, did the U.S. need to drop the second on Nagasaki to end the war? Sunday at 9am ET on @cspanhistory & @cspanwj we'll be live to discuss #Hiroshima75, #Nagasaki75 & the End of #WWII. Join us on @cspan.
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Yes
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No
10,657 votes • Final results
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"This is not the President's domain, this is not his House...the President does not just walk in." @ProfessorU talking about how the State of the Union demonstrates the balance of power between branches. Watch more 1/26 on "Lectures in History." #SOTU #history
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"It's a well crafted film...but historic film, it is not." @HistoryGonWrong of @jyfmuseums & @HerbertHistory talking about "Gone With the Wind" and other movies from a #history pov. Watch more, Saturday at noon & 9pm ET on @cspan 2
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"General Secretary Gorbachev and I exchanged the instruments of ratification, bringing into effect the INF Treaty. The effect of this treaty will be very simply to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Soviet Intermediate Range Nuclear Missiles." - President Reagan, June 1988.
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This weekend on Lectures in History, visit the @AmericanU classroom of @DrIbram who teaches a class about Malcolm X's views on Africa. Watch on Saturday at 8pm ET on C-SPAN 3.
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#OnThisDay in 1957, under protective escort, the #LittleRockNine integrate all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Who were they? Learn more from this 1964 documentary - free in our @cspan library: cs.pn/2l2Au1D
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Speaking about the rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence, "I don't think these things can be meaningful and real, until all of the citizens of our country are guaranteed their basic civil and constitutional rights." Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. #MLKDay
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"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - #OnThisDay in 1987 #POTUS Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall calling for the reunification of East and West Germany.
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Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature, was born #OnThisDay in 1917. Watch her being honored at the 1999 National First Ladies' Dinner here: cs.pn/2kRQBLN
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"These young people did not experience a world in which Europe, and indeed the continent, were divided by a wall and a president stood up and said, 'Tear down that wall.'" @CondoleezzaRice at the 30th Anniversary of the @Reagan_Library. Watch more Saturday at 2pm ET on @cspan 2
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#OnThisDay in 1863 - Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address - Here is a 1951 reenactment of his famous speech. #GettysburgAddress #CivilWar
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TODAY we are commemorating @NatlParkService centennial w/ programming ALL DAY on C-SPAN3 #NPS100 #FindYourPark
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"And now, the last goodbye to John F. Kennedy." #OnThisDay in 1963, the state funeral for President Kennedy. Watch more in our free @cspan video library: bit.ly/2IZsfQ8
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#OnThisDay President Nixon addressed the nation saying that he would resign effective at noon on August 9, 1974. Nixon was the first #POTUS to resign from office. @NixonLibrary
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#OnThisDay in 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was integrated when the Little Rock Nine entered the school.
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"December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked..." #OnThisDay #PearlHarbor #PearlHarborRemembranceDay
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President Eisenhower's farewell address, 1961. He cautioned against arrogance and spoke of America's purpose to "enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity..." Watch more: bit.ly/3nYdz1S
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"All persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States" #OnThisDay in 1868, the 14th Amendment was officially added to the Constitution. Learn more: c-span.org/search/?query=14t…
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If you're interested in the #history of the #statueofliberty - take an American Artifacts tour w/ @NatlParkService cs.pn/2f8PKH7
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#OnThisDay in 1960, four African American students sat down at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launching a civil rights movement that would spread to other cities. Learn more: c-span.org/video/?473383-4/w… #BlackHistoryMonth
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"This is truly a national loss." #OnThisDay in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. Later that day, #POTUS Reagan addressed the nation and postponed his #SOTU address. cs.pn/318xth2
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"From the crew of Apollo 8, we close with goodnight, good luck, a Merry Christmas and god bless all of you - all of you on the good earth." - Christmas Eve 1968, #Apollo8 #onthisday
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"Our movement here in the US is...part of a worldwide struggle to break down the barriers of injustice" - Martin Luther King Jr., 1963. #MartinLutherKingJrDay #MLKDay
Watch more of this press conference in our free @cspan video library.
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Happy #FlagDay! #OnThisDay in 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as our national flag. Learn more about the flag and its history in our free @cspan video library: bit.ly/3MPolUA
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In 1922 #OnThisDay, 57 years after President Lincoln was assassinated and the end of the Civil War, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated. Here's a look at footage from the ceremony.
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