Elizabeth "Lizzie" Emily (McAllister) Dixon (1891 - 1974)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Elizabeth's lifetime.

In 1891, in the year that Elizabeth "Lizzie" Emily (McAllister) Dixon was born, on March 14th, a lynch mob stormed the Old Parish Prison. The mob lynched 11 of the 19 Italians who were arrested for - but found to be innocent of - the murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy.

In 1906, by the time she was just 15 years old, Finland became the first European country to give women the vote and to allow them to run for political office. (Women in Australia and New Zealand already had that right but couldn't run for office.) Although Finland belonged to the Russian Empire, there was great unrest and the Tsar wanted to broker a quick peace. As a part of the brokered peace, women got the vote.

In 1952, at the age of 61 years old, Elizabeth was alive when on July 2, Dr. Jonas E. Salk tested the first dead-virus polio vaccine on 43 children. The worst epidemic of polio had broken out that year - in the U.S. there were 58,000 cases reported. Of these, 3,145 people had died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis.

In 1960, Elizabeth was 69 years old when on May 1st, an American CIA U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over the Soviet Union. Powers ejected and survived but was captured. The U.S. claimed that the U-2 was a "weather plane" but Powers was convicted in the Soviet Union of espionage. He was released in 1962 after 1 year, 9 months and 10 days in prison.

In 1974, in the year of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Emily (McAllister) Dixon's passing, on August 9th, Gerald R. Ford became the 38th President of the United States. He had been Vice President for 8 months when he became President due to the resignation of President Nixon.