On October 7, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union and United Kingdom. Though it didn’t ban nuclear weapons entirely, the treaty forbid testing in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater.
On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were officially reunited after decades of division. This event marked the end of one of the most striking symbols of the Cold War—the separation of a nation and its people. For Germans, it was not only a political event, but also an emotional and cultural homecoming that reshaped Europe.
On September 22, 1989, legendary composer Irving Berlin died in New York City at the age of 101. A year earlier, he was just the second living person to be honored on a US stamp!
Baseball legend Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. One of the game’s all-time great hitters, he holds the record for career on-base percentage.
On August 19, 1940, the B-25 Mitchell bomber made its first flight. One of the most famous medium bombers of World War II, its combination…
After nearly six years of a world at war, the Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945, effectively ending World War II.
On August 13, 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the US Marine Corps Reserve. By war’s end, a total of 305 women had enrolled and served in the Marines.
On August 2, 1943, future president John F. Kennedy saved the majority of his PT-109 crew after a Japanese destroyer rammed them.
The mayor of West Berlin, Ernst Rudolph Johannes Reuter, was born on July 29, 1889, in Apenrade, German Empire. Refusing to bow to Soviet pressure during the Cold War, he unified the western sectors of Berlin and was integral to the Berlin Airlift.