1. 1828: The First Edition of the Webster’s Dictionary is published
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On this day in 1828 the first edition of the Websters Dictionary gets published with over 70,000 entries becoming the standard for the American language throughout the world. Put together over the course of two decades by Noah Webster this version of the American Dictionary had almost double the entries of previous Dictionaries to that point. One of which was done by Webster himself back in 1806. it was said that he had learned as many as 26 different languages just to determine the origin of some of the words in his dictionary. Can you even imagine the monotony of searching out mean, spelling and origin of over 70,000 words? We are glad that someone took the time to do it, we are just glad it wasn’t us that had to do it.
2. 1865: President Lincoln is shot
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The Actual Ford’s Theater. Presidents Box is to the left where Lincoln was shot.
PHOTO: CNN
On this day in 1865 the Civil War was coming to an end, President Lincoln decided to take his wife out on the town to see the play Our American Cousin at the Ford’s Theater, downtown Washington D.C. Just Five days earlier General Robert E Lee had surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S Grant so the President felt a night out would be appropriate. As he say next to his wife, first Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, in a second story booth at the theater watching the play a man named John Wilkes Booth snuck up behind him and shot the President right in the head at point blank range with a single shot .44 caliber Derringer pistol. Booth was a known supporter of the Confederacy and had masterminded the assassination to be a three part process, Booth was to kill the President, and two others were to kill the Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H Seward. However booth was the only one to succeed in the plan, Secretary Seward was merely wounded by his attacker Lewis Powell, and the assassin tasked with Vice President Johnson, George Atzerodt, flat out lost his nerve and fled the area instead. President Lincolns showed how tough he really was when he survived the night even after having a .44 caliber gunshot to the head. He would pass away the next morning and the entire country mourned the loss of arguable the greatest President in the history of the United States.
3. 1969: The First Tie For Best Actress Oscar
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Katherine Hepburn in the film Lion In Winter
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History is made on this day in 1969 when young actress Barbara Streisand and Kathrine Hepburn both received an Academy Award for Best Actress. This was the first time that there and been an actual tie in the history of the show. Streisand won for her role as the quirky Fanny Brice that transformed from the ugly stepsister into the Belle of the Ball in the film Funny Girl. Hepburn won for her role as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. But interestingly Hepburn had won Best Actress at the previous Oscars for her role in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner so she didn’t even show up to the awards believed that she could not win two years in a row. Streisand didn’t hesitate to use that to her advantage taking all of the attention and directing it towards her by using her classic opening line from Funny Girl, ” Hello Gorgeous”. There was a tie given for the 1932 Best Actor award to Fredric March, who starred in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Wallace Beery for his role in The Champ. But Beery actually received one less vote but due to a rule that states if there is less then three votes difference it would be considered a tie. but in the case of Streisand and Hepburn they received exactly the same amount of votes, 3,030 each, making it the first time to have a tie with exact number of votes in the history of the awards show.