USS Bunker Hill was an Essex-class aircraft carrier during World War II. She was badly damaged in May 1945 by Japanese kamikaze attacks, with the loss of hundreds of her crew, becoming one of the most heavily-damaged carriers to survive the war.
The Japanese send more than 35 billion – yes, with a B – New Year’s cards every year, about 30 for every man, woman and child in Japan. They account for almost 20% of annual postal revenue, and the post office will hold any posted early, delivering them all on January 1.
Americans purchase approximately 6.5 billion greeting cards each year.
Pepsico, headquartered in Purchase, New York, is currently the largest company in the United states with a female CEO- Indra Nooyi.
The Gadsden Purchase in 1853 was the last major addition to the continental United States, adding the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico. The purpose was to add land in order to build a southern rail rout to California.
For a brief period during the Civil War, the southern halves of what is now Arizona and New Mexico formed the Confederate Arizona Territory. While the Union was able to regain control, as a result of the Battle of Glorieta Pass in modern New Mexico, the only Confederate deaths in the territory were incurred fighting the Apaches, not the Yankees.
Edwin M. Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln’s second (and much more successful) Secretary of War during the Civil War, was played by Bruce McGill in the 2012 movie Lincoln. McGill is perhaps best known for playing D-Day in Animal House.
Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton, a California native of of Irish, African-American, and Puerto Rican descent, went by “Mike” until the 2012 season. His mother calls him “Cruz”.
Edwin M. Stanton was born in Steubenville, Ohio. Although he attended about a year and a half of classes at Kenyon College, he could not afford to remain, and left before graduating. Like his father, he was an abolitionist from a young age.
In 1971 the New York Mets Leroy Stanton, Frank Estrada, Don Rose and Nolan Ryan to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi. This is often cited as one of the worst trades of all time, yet at the time, it was thought that the Mets got a far better deal. Ryan was a stinko pitcher the previous season (even using modern day stats) and everything indicated he’d only get worse, while Fregosi was a six-time all star and the best shortstop in the majors.
Ryan immediately turned around the next season (and said he never would have if he hadn’t been traded), while Fregosi suffered various injuries and was never the same.
Edwin McMasters Stanton was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War. Secretary of State was William Henry Seward, who led the initiative to purchase Alaska from the Russians. The Russians at the time feared a war with Britain that would allow Britain to gain Alaska - the Russians were motivated to sell.
The purchase was closed on 01 August 1868 when the Russians cashed the American check. However, the transfer ceremony had already taken place in Sitka, AK on 18 October 1867 amid artillery guns firing salvos while the Russian flag was lowered and the American flag (with 37 stars - Nebraska being the 37th state added on 01 March 1867) was raised.
Alaska became the 49th state on 03 January 1959.
The Secretary of State Totem Pole in Saxman Indian Village, Alaska commemorates Seward’s visit to the panhandle town. The carving of Seward at the top has its ears and mouth painted red, to shame him for not returning equal value of the gifts he was given by the natives. If he had ever reciprocated, the ears would have been repainted in normal colors.
William H. Seward was a U.S. senator from New York and was widely considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination for President in 1860, but Abraham Lincoln, a favorite son of Illinois, was able to wrest the nomination from him at the Republican National Convention in Chicago that summer.
The first presidential nominee of the newly-formed antislavery Republican party, in 1856, was California explorer John C. Fremont, whose campaign slogan was “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, and Fremont.”
Explorer John C. Fremont was nicknamed “The Pathfinder,” but those who knew how heavily he relied on scout Kit Carson called Carson “The Pathfinder’s Pathfinder.”
Until the record was broken by Bob Barker in 2002, Johnny Carson hosted the same network series for the longest time: 29 years, 7 months, 21 days.
The first animal to orbit the Earth was a Russian dog named “Laika” (meaning “Barker”), a stray found in the streets of Moscow. There was no way to bring the dog back, but Laika died after only a few hours, though Russian propaganda said she survived for several days.
Imperial Earth was a novel by British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, who spent his final decades in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon until 1972. The name Ceylon is still used in several organizations.
Ben Affleck was born in 1972.