Jesse Yocum Been (died 1970)

In 1807, on February 19th, former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr was arrested on charges of treason, accused of plotting to grab parts of Louisiana and Mexico in order to create an independent republic. On September 1st, he was acquitted of the charges. Although he was deemed to be guilty of plotting against the U.S., he was not found to be guilty of an "overt act" - which is the Constitutional requirement to be met. Burr's reputation, after the charges and the duel with Alexander Hamilton, was ruined, however.

In 1866, on May 10th, the "banker's bank" - London bank Overend, Gurney and Company - collapsed, beginning the Panic of 1866. Unemployment went up to 8% and wages went down. Only about 16% of joint-stock companies - a company whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders - weathered the Panic.

In 1884, on August 5th, the cornerstone for the base of the Statue of Liberty - a gift from the people of France - was laid. 120,000 people - most donations were $1 - donated to the completion of the base. An 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus was also written to raise funds. That poem was included in the base of the statue and is well known today. The most famous phrase: "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In 1906, English biochemist Frederick Hopkins concluded that vitamins are essential to the human body and that a lack of vitamins caused scurvy and rickets. Scurvy and rickets were both huge problems in sailors that were at sea for extended time and the addition of vitamin C, vitamin D, and calcium in their diets helped eradicate the problem.

In 1970, in the year of Jesse Yocum Been's passing, on May 1st, US troops invaded Cambodia, expanding the Vietnam War. The invasion of Cambodia was a Nixon policy, although it was argued against by both his Secretary of State and his Secretary of Defense.