1. 1931: The Star Spangled Banner becomes official as the National Anthem
PHOTO: Nps
On September 14th, 1814, Francis Scott Key was detained on a British ship outside Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812 when the British dropped 1,800 bombs on the area. Somehow through all this the Fort’s flag survived and after witnessing the overnight bombing, Key was inspired with the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. Key’s words traveled the country first as a handbill but then went on to be in the Baltimore Newspaper just six days later and immediately became the unofficial Anthem for most sections of the government. But it wasn’t until an Executive Order by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 that made it the formal Anthem. Later in 1931 Congress passed an act confirming Wilson’s Presidential order and then, on this day in 1931 President Hoover Signs it into Law becoming the Official National anthem for the United States Of America
2. 1991: Rodney King beating gets caught on tape
PHOTO: HuffingtonPost
PHOTO: NYdailynews
Just after midnight on March 3rd 1991 George Holliday was sitting on his balcony just across from the Hansen Dam Park in Los Angeles, and George happened to have his brand new video camera with him when he noticed a white Hyundai pulled over with a whole bunch of cop cars and even a police helicopter. Naturally, Holliday grabs his camera and starts filming, little did he know he would be filming one of the most famous 89 second videos of all time. Rodney King and two passengers had led police on an 8 mile police chase that had ended up at the park that just happened to be a perfect view of old George up there with his new camera. So the point being that there was a lot of stuff going on leading up to the video, but it doesn’t matter the video is the important part. George video taped 90 seconds of the policemen beating King half to death with their batons and that’s after they had shocked him twice with tasers. George ended up selling that video to the local news station who turned around and sold it to CNN and then the news spread like wild fire and tensions were running high. Later when the courts found the policemen not guilty for police brutality it caused the public to boil over and there began one of the most destructive things of the 20th century. Three straight days worth of looting and rioting throughout the Los Angeles area.
3. 1923: The first issue of Time Magazine gets published
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PHOTO: wiki
PHOTO: Cbs
Briton Hadden and Henry Luce worked together at the Yale daily news, Hadden as the Chairman and Luce as the Managing Editor. But both had plans for something bigger, they wanted a magazine that would be something that the busy man could grab and read in an hour. Something that would talk about news stories but wouldn’t be afraid to do some of the lighter stuff like pop culture and celebrities. Most major news outlets at the time wouldn’t touch stories in those genres. Time Magazine was born. The first issue was published on this day in 1923 and has remained a weekly publication since then and has featured countless artists, celebrities and such on the cover. In 1989 Time inc and Warner Communications merged and became the conglomerate known as Time Warner that we know now, also owning Warner bothers studios.