MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1993
ROCHESTER, N.H. — On his first public foray as a presidential hopeful into this key primary state, Lamar Alexander and a local GOP congressman were hit Saturday with a blast of NAFTA opposition. At town hall meetings here and in Derry, the former Tennessee governor and Education secretary weighed in to help pro-NAFTA Rep. Bill Zeliff (R-N.H.) defend himself against at least 40 organized members of Ross Perot’s United We Stand and USA Anti-NAFTA. Even the anti-NAFTA U.S. Green Party showed up for two town hall meetings.
50 years ago — 1968
WASHINGTON — Republican Richard M. Nixon, completing an epic comeback from political oblivion, narrowly won election Wednesday as the 37th president of the United States. He immediately pledged full efforts “to bring the American people together.” Squeezing past Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in the critical late-counting states of Illinois and California, Nixon harvested 287 electoral votes — 17 more than needed to succeed Lyndon B. Johnson as president and to return the White House to Republican hands after eight years of Democratic rule.
75 years ago — 1943
Mayor Walter Chandler announced yesterday that the National Housing Agency has allocated 340 permanent housing units to Memphis in addition to a recent allotment of 250 units. The new allotment was made to provide housing for skilled workers at the new 18-milliondollar Reynolds Metals aluminum plant now under construction at Raines Station.
100 years ago — 1918
Central High School, which has been thoroughly disinfected, will reopen Monday, according to school board president Hardwig Peres. The school was used as a hospital during the recent Spanish influenza epidemic.
125 years ago — 1893
BATESVILLE, Ark. — A posse tracking down bandits who robbed a St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad train at Olyphant, Ark., late yesterday found two of their horses in a wooded ravine after they escaped. Officers believe they are members of the old Dalton train robbing gang.