Portal:United States/Did you know/archive/2010/June

June 2010

... that in his dissenting opinion in the case of Taylor v. Beckham, U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that the right to hold elected offices should be considered part of the definition of "liberty" and protected by the Fourteenth Amendment?
... that although the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation was created in 2004 to implement a 20-year, $8 billion redevelopment plan in Washington, D.C., it was abolished after just three years?
... that American handicapper George E. Smith won $115,000 on one horse race in 1891, the largest payout recorded in the US to that date?
... that remnants of a gristmill, distillery and oil well have been found at Falling Waters State Park which also has the highest waterfall in Florida?
... that John W. Comfort enlisted in the Regular United States Army just four months after leaving the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry?
... that New Jersey Assemblymember Jack Casey was one of many Democratic Party incumbents swept out of office in 1991 in what was called an "anti-tax tidal wave"?
... that the wife and children of Idaho Territorial Governor Edward A. Stevenson were killed during an Indian attack?
... that Thomas S. Buechner became one of the youngest museum directors in the United States when he was named to head the Brooklyn Museum at age 33?
... that Memphis, Tennessee's Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States, insisted in its early years on separate seating for men and women?
... that, in 2007, American track and field athlete Jake Arnold became the first man in 22 years to win back-to-back NCAA Championships in the decathlon?
... that Fred K. Nielsen, a legal official of the U.S. State Department, served as the part-time head football coach at four different Washington, D.C. colleges?
... that the "Grandfather of Eastern Wilderness", Ernie Dickerman, was instrumental in promoting the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Act, which designated 16 new wilderness areas in the eastern United States?
... that United States Ambassador to Cyprus Taylor G. Belcher was awarded the Distinguished Service Award because of his peace-keeping abilities during the eruption of violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots?
... that Lake Scott State Park is home to El Quartelejo Ruins, the northernmost Indian pueblo in the United States and the only one known in Kansas?
... that the U.S. Secretary of the Army's investigation into burial mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery was prompted in part by a year-long series of articles on Salon.com?
... that in Berghuis v. Thompkins the United States Supreme Court ruled that failing to claim the right to silence means police can use any voluntary statements regardless of length of interrogation?
... that political strategist Rod Shealy sought to increase the turnout of white voters in South Carolina by paying an unemployed black fisherman to run for Congress in 1990?
... that legislation proposed by Barbara Wright would impose jail terms up to 10 years and fines of as much as US$100,000 for filing false car- or health-insurance claims in New Jersey?
... that during World War II the United States Army Art Program was canceled by Congress, then resumed by Life magazine?
... that Peter Keefe's 1980s series Voltron "helped prepare the way for other Japanese-style animation in the United States" such as Pokémon and Power Rangers?
... that the last remaining mail delivery boat in the United States delivers with mail jumpers?
... that Alvin Greene is the first African American since Reconstruction to win a major party's nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina?
... that during the Great Depression, attorney George C. Butte devised regulations for the conservation of Texas petroleum and natural gas?
... that there were an estimated 8,000 members of Sam's Army in the stands at the U.S. men's soccer team's opening game of the 2010 World Cup in group play against England?

... that the Laguna Madre (pictured) in Texas is one of the earth's six hypersaline bays?
... that First Presbyterian Church 1793 is the de facto college church of Washington & Jefferson College, a nearby nonsectarian liberal arts college?
... that Augie Schmidt won the Golden Spikes Award, an award given to the top amateur baseball player in the United States, in 1982?
... that Rafael Fraguela was elected to the N.J. Assembly 33rd District as a Democrat, became a Republican to run for the N.J. Senate, and returned to the Democrats to vote for a stem cell research bill?
... that John Mott-Smith was the first permanent dentist in the Kingdom of Hawaii and its last ambassador to the U.S.?
... that United Public Workers v. Mitchell (1947) is the only U.S. Supreme Court decision prior to 1965 to address the meaning of the Ninth and Tenth amendments substantively?
... that Orville Nave compiled his best-known work, Nave's Topical Bible, while serving as a chaplain in the United States Army?
... that retired professional baseball player Joe Campbell missed most of spring training in 1967 with the Chicago Cubs due to obligations he had in the United States Marine Corps?
... that D. John Markey complained of the Democratic Party's 82-year grip on Maryland after the close and controversial 1946 Senate race against Governor Herbert O'Conor?
... that Dorsey Dixon's song "Babies in the Mill" is about the Southern United States textile industry's exploitation of child labor in the early 20th century?
... that in the United States there is a math–verbal achievement gap on both the SAT and the ACT, because students do much better on the math portion?
... that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kissinger v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that Henry Kissinger did not have to release phone transcripts that were made while he was Secretary of State?
... that in his concurrence in Wieman v. Updegraff in 1952, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter called teachers "priests of our democracy"?
... that the present-day location of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, was the result of a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States?
... that Hartsville Oil Mill v. United States was a court case in which the Supreme Court held the Court of Claims jurisdiction was not increased by Congressional reference resolutions?
... that American chemist Robert L. McNeil, Jr. was responsible for the commercial development of Tylenol, for which he coined the generic name "acetaminophen"?
... that Texas industrialist Ross Perot spent $60 million of his own money to fund his 1992 U.S. presidential campaign?

... that Jerome Tiger, a Native American painter from Oklahoma, was a high school dropout and worked as a laborer and prize fighter?
... that the railroads controlled by Alfred Holland Smith in 1918 carried one half of United States freight?
... that white Republican State Senator Norman M. Robertson criticized New Jersey's 2001 redistricting plan, stating "that the map is racist" in reducing the voting strength of African-American voters?
... that the civil rights attorney Jesse N. Stone, Jr., was in the first graduating class in 1950 of the historically black Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge?
... that the American soul-blues musician L.V. Johnson's track "I Don't Really Care", was sampled by Strong Arm Steady on their 2010 album In Search of Stoney Jackson?
... that after an effort to elect left-wing Democrats to the U.S. Congress failed in 1946, the Union for Democratic Action was disbanded and Americans for Democratic Action formed to replace it?
... that the Port of Jacksonville is the second busiest vehicle-handling port on the east coast of the United States?
... that Yangluo Bridge near Wuhan, China, is tied with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, United States, as the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world?
... that American Phelps Phelps, the first civilian Governor of American Samoa and an Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, was dismissed from Yale University for paying another student to take his tests?
... that Thomas Darden, the last naval Governor of American Samoa, advocated for the integration of the United States Navy?
... that the battleship Moreno was the subject of multiple disputes between Argentina and the United States?