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History.com: How the 2000 Election Came Down to a Supreme Court Decision
As Florida's electoral votes became too close to call, controversy ensued over hanging chads, dimpled chads and butterfly bullets. Five hundred thirty-seven votes. That's all that separated Democrat Al Gore and his Republican challenger...
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History.com: This Is How Fdr Tried to Pack the Supreme Court
When his New Deal legislation kept getting struck down, FDR proposed a law targeting justices over the age of 70.
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History.com: Nuremberg Trials
Held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking...
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History.com: 10 Things You May Not Know About the Nuremberg Trials
The post-World War II trials marked the first-ever prosecutions for genocide and crimes against humanity. Held directly after World War II, the Nuremberg Trials were a series of 13 military tribunals in which nearly 200 German...
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History.com: Why the Construction of the Panama Canal Was So Difficult and Deadly
A staggering 25,000 workers lost their lives. And artificial limb makers clamored for contracts with the canal builders. In a quest to fulfill a centuries-old dream to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the builders of the Panama...
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History.com: How Eleanor Roosevelt Pushed for a Universal Declaration of Human Rights
In the wake of World War II's horrors, Roosevelt saw the need to support refugees and affirm the right to education, shelter, and medical care. Roosevelt was there to speak about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document...
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History.com: How Jfk's 'Viva Kennedy' Campaign Galvanized the Latino Vote
When JFK faced a tight race for the White House in 1960, he turned to a group of Americans who had long been overlooked by political campaigns. One way the nation's first Catholic president sought to gain an edge in the close contest was...
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History.com: What Prehistoric Cave Paintings Reveal About Early Human Life
Some of the oldest known art may hint at the beginning of language development, while later examples portray narratives with human and animal figures. What does the oldest known art in the world tell us about the people who created it?...
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History.com: How Did Baseball's Seventh Inning Stretch Originate?
The American tradition might date to President William Howard Taft in 1910, but it could have started in 1869. The seventh-inning stretch, when fans rise from their seats for a brief break after the top of that inning is complete, is as...
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History.com: When Apollo 10 Nearly Crashed Into the Moon
The mission that paved the way for the Apollo 11 moon landing came close to ending in disaster. Commander Tom Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan had just returned from their close pass by the lunar surface and were readying to...
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History.com: 5 Terrifying Moments During the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Mission
The astronaut crew had to troubleshoot a series of problems throughout the historic 1969 flight. This historic exchange on July 20, 1969 marked the end of a perilous journey to the lunar surface, but a multitude of threats still faced...
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History.com: How Landing the First Man on the Moon Cost Dozens of Lives
NASA was preparing feverishly for a moon landing in a race against the former Soviet Union to honor slain president John F. Kennedy's 1961 pledge for the country to land a spacecraft on the moon (and return safely) before the end of the...
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History.com: The Apollo Mission That Nearly Ended With a Mutiny in Space
There were arguments over food, helmets and spacesuits that required 30 minutes for astronauts to use the bathroom. By 1968, America's space program was on the brink. A launchpad fire at Cape Canaveral killed three astronauts as they...
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History.com: 10 Things You May Not Know About Christopher Columbus
Check out 10 things you may not know about the explorer who sailed the ocean blue in 1492 for example, Columbus didn't set out to prove the earth was round.
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History.com: Apollo 11 Moon Landing Timeline: From Liftoff to Splashdown
Neil Armstrong's celebrated "one small step" was far from the most dangerous maneuver in the effort to send three men to the moon and return them home a week later. See a timeline of the entire mission.
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History.com: How Many Times Has the u.s. Landed on the Moon?
Among seven Apollo moon landing missions, only one did not land men on the moon. Apollo 11 lunar module on July 20, 1969 to become the first human being to step foot on the moon. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for...
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History.com: When Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong Were Nearly Stranded on the Moon
Aldrin saw a broken-off circuit breaker switch lying on the floor of the lunar module and "gulped hard." Following the Apollo 11 historic July 20, 1969, moonwalk, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were preparing to return to command from their...
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History.com: Native Americans Weren't Guaranteed the Right to Vote in Every State Until 1962
Native people won citizenship in 1924, but the struggle for voting rights stretched on much longer. Native Americans couldn't be U.S. citizens when the country ratified its Constitution in 1788, and wouldn't win the right to be for 136...
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History.com: Why the Statue of Liberty Almost Didn't Get Built
Although France paid for the statue, the US had to pay for the pedestal. When the Statue of Liberty arrived (in pieces) in New York Harbor on June of 1885, the pedestal was still under construction, and fundraisers were still collecting...
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History.com: 7 Famous Loyalists of the Revolutionary War Era
From a son of Benjamin Franklin to a Mohawk leader to the governor of Massachusetts, these men chose to side with the British. In a way, the American Revolution was also a civil war. By 1774, American colonists were divided into two...
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History.com: The Lithuanian Immigrant Who Launched the First Women's College Basketball Game
On March 22, 1893, 15 months after Canadian-born James Naismith invented basketball, Senda Berenson pitted Smith College freshmen and sophomore teams against each other.
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History.com: Colin Powell
Colin Powell (1937-2021) ascended from a humble upbringing in New York City to rise through military ranks and eventually become a four star general, a national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first...
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History.com: How Alexander Hamilton's Men Surprised the Enemy at the Battle of Yorktown
Hamilton's leadership in the war's last major land battle would deliver the future Secretary of the Treasury his long-sought glory. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, known for his famous, fatal duel with Aaron Burr...
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History.com: The Life of Lou Gehrig
Find out more about the legendary first baseman. Born Henry Louis Gehrig in New York City on June 19, 1903, the future sports icon was the son of German immigrants.