On this day 55 years ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Broadcasting from the Oval Office, he introduced the bill that would eventually legislate equal access to public facilities, end segregation in education, and guarantee federal voting rights for African-Americans. (1963)
MORE Good News on this Day:
- Buenos Aires was founded by Juan de Garay (1580)
- The Great Barrier Reef was discovered by Captain James Cook off the Australia coast (1770)
- The United States agreed to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union (1942)
- Golfer Charlie Sifford became the first African-American to play in a US Open championship (1959)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial premiered in theaters at number one to universal acclaim and stayed at the top of the box office for six weeks, surpassing Star Wars as the highest-grossing film of all-time. (1982)
- Antonio Meucci was recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress (2002)
- G8 finance ministers canceled the debt owed by 18 of the poorest countries (2005)
- Canada made an official apology to the Canadian Aboriginal Nations regarding the residential school program that isolated children from their homes, families and cultures for a century, with the intention of forcing…
