TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Dec. 28, 1917

The New York Evening Mail published “A Neglected Anniversary,” a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken supposedly recounting the history of bathtubs in America, starting with the “first” one in Cincinnati in 1842. Among the spoof’s other straight-faced claims: that Millard Fillmore was the first president to have a bathtub installed in the White House.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1612

Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei observed the planet Neptune, but mistook it for a star.

1832

John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down because of differences with President Andrew Jackson.

1846

Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

1856

The 28th president of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Virginia.

1895

The Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, held the first public showing of their movies in Paris.

1937

Composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris at age 62.

1945

Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

1961

The Tennessee Williams play “Night of the Iguana” opened on Broadway. Former first lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington at age 89.