John Henry (Cidon) King (1881 - 1967)

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

In 1881, in the year that John Henry (Cidon) King was born, on April 28th, Billy the Kid escaped from the Lincoln County Jail in New Mexico. He killed James Bell and Robert Ollinger in the escape and then stole a horse and rode out of town. On July 14th, Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid in Billy's friend's home near Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

In 1900, John was 19 years old when the U.S. population exceeded 75 million, rising about 13 million from the 1890 census. 87.9% of the population was white, 11.6% was African-American, 0.7% was Hispanic, and 0.5% was Native American, Asian, and other minorities.

In 1931, John was 50 years old when in March, “The Star Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem by congressional resolution. Other songs had previously been used - among them, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "God Bless America", and "America the Beautiful". There was fierce debate about making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem - Southerners and veterans organizations supported it, pacifists and educators opposed it.

In 1950, by the time he was 69 years old, on June 25th, the Korean War began when North Korean Communist forces crossed the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union and China backed North Korea and the U.N., primarily the United States backed South Korea.

In 1967, in the year of John Henry (Cidon) King's passing, on November 7th, President Johnson signed legislation passed by Congress that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which would later become PBS and NPR. The legislation required CPB to operate with a "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature".