Today in history

1866 The National Labor Union in the U.S. advocated an eight-hour workday.

1866 It was formally declared by U.S. President Andrew Johnson that the American Civil War was over. The fighting had stopped months earlier.

1882 Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” debuted in Moscow.

1923 The first American dirigible, the “Shenandoah,” was launched in Lakehurst, NJ. The ship began its maiden voyage from the same location on September 4.

1939 The National Bowling Association was founded in Detroit, MI. It was the first bowling association in the U.S. for African-Americans.

1945 Tommy Brown (Brooklyn Dodgers) became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old.

1948 Cleveland’s Indians and Chicago’s White Sox played at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland before a crowd of 78,382 people. It was the largest crowd to see a nighttime major-league baseball game to date.

1964 A $1 billion anti-poverty measure was signed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1967 The New York Times reported about a noise reduction system for album and tape recording developed by technicians R. and D.W. Dolby. Elektra Record’s subsidiary, Checkmate Records became the first label to use the new Dolby process in its recordings. 1977 Voyager 2 was launched by the United States. The spacecraft was carrying a 12 inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

1985 The original Xerox 914 copier was presented to the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History. Chester Carlson was the man who invented the machine.