James Booth (born 1846)

In 1846, in the year that James Booth was born, on February 26th, the Liberty Bell was rung for George Washington's birthday. It is said that when it was rung, a previous crack was worsened, leading to the crack seen today. A paper of the time said that at "around noon, it was discovered that the ringing had caused the crack to be greatly extended, and that the old Independence Bell...now hangs in the great city steeple irreparably cracked and forever dumb".

In 1867, on January 8th, African-American men were given the right to vote in the District of Columbia when Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's veto. This was the first place in the U.S. to give African Americans the right to vote.

In 1877, on March 2nd, the U.S. presidential election of 1876 was ended with the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner. Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote in November 1876 but 20 votes in the electoral college were in dispute. An informal agreement was made in which Hayes agreed to remove federal troops from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, ending Reconstruction in the South. So, on March 4th, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th President of the United States.

In 1978, on November 18th, Jim Jones's Peoples Temple followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana - where they had moved, from San Francisco, as a group. Jones was the leader of the cult and ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, which they did. Whole families (women and children included) died - more than 900 people in all.

In 1980, on April 24th, a rescue attempt was begun in the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The attempt failed and 8 US servicemen were killed. Eight helicopters had been sent for the mission, but only 5 arrived in operating condition., Since the military had advised that the mission be aborted if there were fewer than 6 helicopters, President Carter stopped it. Upon leaving, a helicopter collided with a transport plane and the men were killed.