Today's featured article |
Terry Sanford (1917–1998) was a United States politician and educator from North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, Sanford was the 65th Governor of North Carolina (1961–1965), a two-time U.S. Presidential candidate in the 1970s and a U.S. Senator (1986–1993). Sanford was a strong proponent of education and introduced a number of reforms and new programs in North Carolina's schools and institutions of higher education as the state's governor, increasing funding for education and establishing the North Carolina Fund. From 1969 to 1985, Sanford was President of Duke University. An Eagle Scout as a youth, Sanford became an FBI agent after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1939. During World War II, he saw combat in the European Theatre and received a battlefield commission. After the war, Sanford attended the University of North Carolina School of Law and began a legal career in the late 1940s, soon becoming involved in politics. A lifelong Democrat, he was noted for his progressive leadership in civil rights and education; although his opponents criticized him as a "tax-and-spend" liberal, Sanford is remembered as a major public figure of the South after World War II. (more...)
Recently featured: Tosca – William Hillcourt – Rheinmetall 120 mm gun
|
Did you know... |
From Wikipedia's newest articles:
- ... that before becoming a museum, Beit Beirut (pictured) was a vantage point for sniping and a combat zone during the Lebanese Civil War?
- ... that ordering "half and half" at Big Spring Cafe in Huntsville, Alabama, gets you a bowl with equal portions of chili con carne and Brunswick stew?
- ... that the location of the Silver King Mine was first discovered by a soldier building a road during the Apache Wars, who found black rocks that flattened when struck?
- ... that socialite Judith Peabody was known for clothes she wore from Bill Blass and Donald Brooks, as well as for legal aid to Lenny Bruce and her efforts at Gay Men's Health Crisis for people with AIDS?
- ... that Cardiff School of Art & Design, established in 1865, is the oldest constituent part of University of Wales Institute, Cardiff?
- ... that Nathan Quinones felt so relieved after leaving his position as New York City School Chancellor, that he said he "felt like a little bird", singing to himself as he walked down the street?
- ... that in 2009, the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration began planning for a Chinese-built icebreaker due to its expanding polar exploration activities?
- ... that the Canadian television series Tabloid (1953–1960) regularly featured weatherman Percy Saltzman's flipping of a chalk?
- ... that the Hovis advertisement Go On Lad compresses 122 years of British history into 122 seconds?
| |
|
In the news |
|
On this day... |
August 8: Father's Day in Taiwan
- 1870 – Liberal radicals in Ploieşti, Romania, revolted against Romanian Domnitor Carol I, only to be arrested the next day.
- 1876 – Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph machine, a printing device that was one of the forerunners to the photocopier.
- 1918 – The Battle of Amiens (painting of the scene by Will Longstaff pictured) began in Amiens, France, marking the start of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
- 1942 – The All India Congress Committee in Bombay passed the Quit India Resolution and Mahatma Gandhi called for determined but passive resistance in a speech at Gowalia Tank, leading to a civil disobedience movement across British India.
- 1963 – In one of the largest robberies in British history, a gang of 15 train robbers stole £2.6 million in bank notes at Bridego Railway Bridge, Buckinghamshire, England.
- 1988 – The 8888 Uprising, a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots against the one-party state of the Burma Socialist Programme Party in Burma, began.
More anniversaries: August 7 – August 8 – August 9
| |