Maria C Branco (1929 - 2001)

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

In 1929, in the year that Maria C Branco was born, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre happened on February 14th. In Chicago, seven men from the North Side Irish gang were gunned down by Al Capone's South Side Italian gang at the garage at 2122 North Clark Street. Al Capone was making a successful move to take over Chicago's organized crime. But the St. Valentine's Day massacre also resulted in a public outcry against all gangsters.

In 1945, by the time she was 16 years old, on January 9th, the (over 8 month long) Battle of Luzon began in the Philippines with the United States and Filipino forces attacking Japanese forces - with the intent to take back control of the Philippines. By March, the Allies had taken control of all of the strategically and economically important locations in the Philippines but pockets of resistance held out until the surrender of Japan in August.

In 1954, by the time she was 25 years old, from April 22 through June 17th, the Army v. McCarthy hearings were held. The U.S. Army accused Roy Cohn (chief counsel to Senator McCarthy and later trusted mentor of Donald Trump) of blackmail. McCarthy and Cohn accused the U.S. Army of harboring communists. The Army allegations were found to be true. The U.S. Senate later censured McCarthy.

In 1977, she was 48 years old when on January 21st, President Carter pardoned "draft dodgers" - men who avoided the draft during the Vietnam War. He fulfilled a campaign promise with the pardon. But it only applied to civilian evaders - the estimated 500,000 to 1 million active-duty personnel who went AWOL were not included.

In 1987, Maria was 58 years old when on October 19th, stock exchanges around the world crashed. Beginning in Hong Kong then spreading to Europe, the crash then hit the United States. It was called Black Monday. The Dow Jones fell 508 points to 1,738.74 (22.61%).