When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was asked to approve Enovid for contraception, the “birth control pill” had already proved highly effective. But with legal and moral objections, a regulatory storm was gathering.
May 1, 2019 1:10 AM CDT
On the death of President William Henry Harrison, Vice President John Tyler set a precedent when he made it clear that he planned to fully assume the office.
Apr 1, 2019 12:35 AM CDT
Linda Sparkman learned years later that she had been sterilized at age 15. The U.S. Supreme Court faced a constitutional question in hearing the case against the judge that authorized the procedure.
Mar 1, 2019 12:35 AM CST
Judge Harold Stump and Jamie Renee Coleman, formerly Linda Sparkman, at her Waterloo, Indiana, home in 2007. Images courtesy of William H. Willennar Genealogy Center, a service of Eckhart Public Library; Indy Star\USA Tooday Network
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Rivalry between gold and silver touched off the Panic of 1893. Speculation roared back in 1980, when the billionaire Hunt brothers nearly cornered the silver market.
Jan 1, 2019 3:10 AM CST
Billionaire Hunt brothers William Herbert (left) and Nelson Bunker are sworn in before a House subcommittee investigating the 1980 collapse of the silver market. Photo by Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
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In November 1892, Fall River, Massachusetts, was an unremarkable New England mill town with a very remarkable problem: What to do with Lizzie Borden?
Dec 1, 2018 12:45 AM CST
Albert B. Fall, secretary of the Interior under Warren G. Harding, was acquitted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, along with oilman Edward Doheny and his son, Edward Doheny Jr.
Nov 1, 2018 12:45 AM CDT
Harry Sinclair, multimillionaire oil mogul (left), and his counsel Martin Littleton attend the Teapot Dome hearing. Photo by Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress.
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Wartime radio propagandist Iva D’Aquino was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977. She died in 2006 at age 90.
Oct 1, 2018 12:20 AM CDT
Charlie Chaplin was the subject of intense FBI scrutiny, public attacks by influential politicians, defamatory press accounts, national boycotts by citizenship groups, and criminal charges tied to his relationship with a young actress.
Sep 1, 2018 1:15 AM CDT
The government’s crusade against Chaplin was one of the first uses of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Photo by Cinematerial.com
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Justice Antonin Scalia joined Justice William Brennan’s majority opinion in a case that probed tensions between free speech and patriotism.
Aug 1, 2018 1:00 AM CDT
Photograph by Gordon Galbrath/Shutterstock.com
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The Enrollment Act of 1863 required male citizens between ages 20 and 45 to register for conscription. In New York, 119 died after a mob halted a conscription lottery that exempted black men and wealthy whites.
Jul 1, 2018 12:35 AM CDT
Baseball’s reserve clause allowed total team control of a player’s career. Baseball’s hold on the American imagination and control of player contracts allowed it to survive the 1919 Black Sox scandal, the Great Depression, segregation, franchise relocations and two major U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Jun 1, 2018 12:35 AM CDT
Curt Flood pauses on June 1, 1970, in front of Federal Court in New York City, where his legal challenge of baseball’s reserve clause resumed. Flood balked at being traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies and sued organized baseball for $3 million in damages. Photograph by AP Photo.
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Sen. Charles Sumner was caned in U.S. Senate chambers. Rep. Preston Brooks took violent exception to a speech on slavery and unrest in the Kansas Territory.
May 1, 2018 12:30 AM CDT
Five months before ‘The Fugitive’ first aired, F. Lee Bailey challenged the extraordinary 1954 trial and conviction of Dr. Sam Sheppard, on whose case the TV series was based.
Apr 1, 2018 12:45 AM CDT
Defense attorneys William Corrigan and Arthur Petersilge with Dr. Sam Sheppard in court in 1954. Associated Press photo.
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“Typhoid Mary” Mallon was linked to 53 cases of typhoid fever, including three deaths.
Mar 1, 2018 12:45 AM CST
Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry lent his name to the gerrymander, a legislative effort to apportion political jurisdictions.
Feb 1, 2018 12:40 AM CST