ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1704, Great Britain seized Gibraltar from Spain. Sure, Spain was upset... but imagine how the folks at Prudential Insurance felt. They took that old commercial, "Get a piece of the rock" a little too seriously.
In 1847 that Mormon leader Brigham Young and followers arrived in Salt Lake City.
  • Remember, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have the musical, "Book of Mormon."
  • If they had veered just a little to the south, think of how different Las Vegas would be today.

In 1866, Tennessee was readmitted to the union. They say the first step towards solving a problem is re-admitting it. Isn't that what they say? Maybe I heard them wrong.
In 1936, Alton, Kansas hit an all-time record high temperature of 121 degrees. It was so hot...
  • Potatoes cooked in the ground and all you had to do was pull them out of the ground and add butter, salt and pepper.
  • Farmers fed their crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
  • Cows were giving pasteurized milk.
  • You could make instant sun tea.
  • When the temperature dropped below 95, you got chills.
  • Hot water came out of BOTH taps.
  • The chickens were laying fried eggs.

On this date in 1952, President Truman announced a settlement in a 53-day steel strike. I remember the old joke, "I come from a family of iron and steel. Yeah, my mom irons and my dad steals."
In 1959 during a visit to the Soviet Union, Vice President Richard Nixon argued with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on the merits of capitalism versus communism, in what became known as the "Kitchen Debate." Why am I starting to think July is not the best month for these U.S./Russia meetings?

On this date in 1969 that the Apollo XI astronauts, two of whom had been the first men to walk on the moon, splashed down in the Pacific. And no one suspected there was an alien on board. Oh, wait... that was a movie.
In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered President Richard Nixon to hand over his tapes. After a few adjustments were made, he did.

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