This day marks the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920), granting women the right to vote. Ratification came in Tennessee, where Tennessee state legislator Harry T. Burn, age 24, cast the deciding vote after reading a letter from his mom, Febb Burn. “I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow,” he said, “and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
The country’s 26 million voting-age women were enfranchised by this change in the Constitution. Longtime suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt summed up her experiences in the battle this way: “Never in the history of politics has there been such a nefarious lobby as labored to block the ratification.” Upon ratification, Catt founded the League of Women Voters, an organization now dedicated to providing impartial, in-depth information about candidates, platforms, and ballot issues.
Died
Frans Hals(painter)–
Louis-Philippe of France–
Celia Thaxter(poet)–
Charles Lindbergh(aviator)–
Ted Knight(actor)–
Laura Branigan(Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her hit Gloria)–
Dominick Dunne(American writer and investigative journalist)–
Neil Simon(Pulitzer prize-winning playwright)–
Bob Barker(game show host and animal activist)–
Born
Lee DeForest(inventor)–
Frank F. Gasparro(designed the Lincoln Memorial reverse on the penny)–
Mother Teresa(missionary)–
Benjamin Bradlee(journalist)–
Irving Levine(broadcast journalist)–
Geraldine Ferraro(politician)–
Will Shortz(puzzle creator and editor)–
Branford Marsalis(musician)–
Melissa McCarthy(actress)–
Macaulay Culkin(actor)–
Chris Pine(actor)–
Keke Palmer(actress)–
Events
Quincy Market opened, Boston, Massachusetts –
Amistad captured off Long Island –
Krakatoa, a volcano on an Indonesian island, began to erupt. Over this and the next day, the eruption caused tsunamis that killed 36,000 people. Particles from the eruption were released into the stratosphere, causing the average temperature of Earth to lower by one degree for the next two years. –
Krakatoa, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Rakata, erupted. The explosions heard in the eruption remain the loudest noise on human record. The sound was heard across the Indian Ocean as far away as Rodriguez Island and Australia –
A starch process that led to puffed grain cereals was patented –
The Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, granting women the right to vote. It was nicknamed the Anthony amendment in recognition of the lobbying efforts of suffragette Susan B. Anthony. –
Philo Farnsworth patented a television –
WXBS televised the first major-league baseball games, a double-header between Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers –
Norma Jeane Baker was signed to a contract with 20th Century Fox—her first studio contract –
The first Ford Edsel was produced –
The Beatles released their smash hit “Hey Jude”
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Guitarist Jimi Hendrix made his last public appearance in the UK –
Bill 101 took effect, making French the official language of Quebec –
Weather
Tornado hit train on bridge in Dearborn County, Indiana –
Snow flurries fell in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England –
100-mph winds, Lake County, Indiana –
Stormy weather deposited a canoe in telephone lines in Lake County, Indiana –
Lightning killed more than 300 reindeer in Hardangervidda, a mountain plateau and national park in Norway. –
