Stories

Marine biologist Mary Sears, initially a plankton researcher, became the U.S. Navy’s first official oceanographer in WWII. After the costly Battle of Tarawa, where miscalculated tides caused high Marine casualties, Sears was tasked with crucial oceanographic research to prevent similar disasters.

Throughout England between the 16th and early 19th centuries, outspoken women, known as “common scolds,” faced public punishment for their “disruptive” behavior. Often accused of gossiping, quarreling, or speaking out against authority, these women were punished to deter others from following suit.

In September 1863, a young man was discovered on the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia. Both of his legs had been amputated above the knees, and he could not communicate, only uttering the sound “Jerome.” The locals took him in, giving him the name “Jerome” based on the only word he seemed to say.

On March 19, 1964, Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock, a 38-year-old housewife and pilot from Columbus, Ohio, took off alone in a single-engine Cessna 180 named the Spirit of Columbus. Mock aimed to become the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her journey covered nearly 23,000 miles.

In the 1940s, with the Pacific Ocean’s depths largely uncharted, the U.S. Navy turned to a new and daring group—the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT). These “frogmen,” trained in Maui, faced dangerous missions, swimming unarmed and camouflaged only by blue paint to scout enemy beaches and clear obstacles ahead of Allied assaults.

In 1940, as Nazi forces swept into France, American fears of espionage on home soil surged. President Roosevelt, worried about “fifth column” spies, expanded FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s powers, permitting the FBI to conduct wiretaps and surveillance. Hoover used this mandate to broaden the FBI’s role from criminal investigations to national security.

In the presidential election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both from the Democratic-Republican party, each received 73 votes in the Electoral College, resulting in an unprecedented tie. This left the House of Representatives to choose the next president, as the U.S. Constitution required.

On January 17, 1920, the U.S. banned alcohol under Prohibition. Yet, many Americans continued drinking in secret, including aboard Michigan’s Lake Charlevoix, where Captain James Gallagher transformed a timber barge, the Keuka, into a “floating dance hall.” Though promoted as a roller rink, it was a speakeasy and casino catering to locals.

As King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited the flood-devastated town of Paiporta in Valencia, frustrated residents threw mud and objects at them, shouting “murderer” and “shame.” The scene intensified when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also arrived and faced hostility, eventually prompting a swift evacuation.

In 1957, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev boasted about his country’s missiles, challenging the U.S. to a “peaceful rocket contest.” By 1961, with John F. Kennedy newly elected as president, fears of nuclear war reached new heights. As a security measure, officials secretly built a fallout shelter for Kennedy on Nantucket, Massachusetts.