Esther Kunin (1912 - 2002)

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

In 1912, in the year that Esther Kunin was born, in October, former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot, but not killed, while campaigning for another term as President with the newly created Bull Moose (Progressive) Party. John Schrank was a Bavarian-born saloon-keeper from New York who had been stalking Roosevelt when he shot him just before a campaign speech. Shot in the chest (and showing the audience his bloody shirt), Roosevelt went on to give a 55 to 90 minute talk (reports vary on the length) before being treated for the injury. After 8 days in the hospital, Roosevelt went back on the campaign trail.

In 1921, by the time she was merely 9 years old, on March 4, Warren G. Harding became President. Previously a U.S. Senator, Lieutenant Governor, and Ohio State Senator, Harding was a popular President. But many scandals plagued his short administration (he died in office after 2 and a half years), including the revelations of one of his mistresses and the Teapot Dome scandal. Historically, Harding is rated as one of the worst Presidents.

In 1950, she was 38 years old when on October 2, Charlie Brown appeared in the first Peanuts comic strip - created by Charles Schultz - and he was the only character in that strip. That year, Schultz said that Charlie was 4 years old, but Charlie aged a bit through the years.

In 1972, at the age of 60 years old, Esther was alive when on November 7th, Richard Nixon won re-election, amidst the dawning knowledge of the Watergate scandal, by 60.7% to anti-war candidate George McGovern's 37.5%.

In 1992, she was 80 years old when on February 1st, US President George Bush and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia jointly announced an end to the Cold War, proclaiming a new era of "friendship and partnership". At Camp David in Maryland, they reviewed ways to jointly reduce nuclear arms and support reforms in Russia but no agreement was reached at that meeting.