"That was not a pleasant day for you"
How will history remember this week?
Welcome back to the This Day newsletter. Each week, a member of our team gathers together bits of America’s past that might add a little understanding to our current moment.
Below, a fascinating list of historical moments that took place this week — but first a rundown of some historical thoughts from a member of our team. Today, researcher Jacob Feldman…
One thing I’m reminded of this week:
I can’t remember exactly what sent me back to the Operation Overlord Wikipedia page recently. I think it was during a short trip to Iceland, where I learned about the significance of America’s wartime occupation (and the weather reports it gathered there). It certainly wasn’t President Trump’s latest bit of clumsy diplomacy. Regardless, I remain in awe of the international planning, subterfuge, serendipity and ultimately sacrifice that went into the campaign every time I learn more about it. D-Day represents one of so many dates in American history that we’re taught about without ever being encouraged to fully grapple with. It’s worth going down the rabbit hole this weekend.
One thing I learned this week:
Somehow I’d never come across groundbreaking Black cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor until he popped up on the cover of The New Yorker???
One thing history will remember this week:
The end (for now at least) of the Elon-Trump relationship. I’m somehow already sick of their feud while waiting with bated breath to see what happens next.
One other thing I want to say this week:
It officially feels like summer in Boston. Hopefully you have some vacation—or at least a few relaxing moments—ahead. On Sunday, Jody is cameo’ing in The Sunday Long Read with a handful of podcast picks to fill your travel/downtime needs. Don’t miss it!
Here’s what happened over the week ahead in American political history…
June 5
1947: U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Western Europe after World War II
1968: Robert Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
1981: The AIDS epidemic officially begins when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five gay men in Los Angeles
June 6
1799: Patrick Henry, one of the Founding Fathers, dies
1856: Incumbent President Franklin Pierce fails to receive his party’s nomination, as the Democrats put forward James Buchanan instead
1944: Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day, begins with the Allied landing in Normandy
June 7
1939: King George VI becomes the first British monarch to visit the U.S.
1965: The Supreme Court's decision in Griswold v. Connecticut legalizes the use of contraception by married couples
1966: Ronald Reagan is nominated for Governor of California
June 8
1789: James Madison introduces a proposed Bill of Rights in the U.S. House of Representatives
1866: A series of raids by Irish-Americans is taking place, starting in Vermont and headed across the border to attack British outposts in southern Canada.
1940: Congress protects the Bald Eagle
1968: James Earl Ray, a suspect in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., is arrested
1988 : Neo-nazi David Duke announces his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president
June 9
1628: The first deportation from what is now the U.S. occurs with Thomas Morton from Massachusetts
1856: 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, for Salt Lake City, Utah
June 10
1692: The first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged
1801: Tripoli declares war on the U.S.
1845: Andrew Jackson's African Grey parrot "Poll" is removed from Jackson’s funeral for swearing
June 11
1776: The Continental Congress creates a committee (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft a Declaration of Independence
1876: Republicans pick Rutherford B. Hayes as their presidential candidate
1911: The Universal Negro Improvement Association is founded by Marcus Garvey, who is then 28
1963: A lot
2019: The WHO confirms the first case of Ebola virus in Uganda, spreading from an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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