Minnie Elsie Mar Mitchell (1880 - 1970)

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

In 1880, in the year that Minnie Elsie Mar Mitchell was born, on August 14th Cologne Cathedral, in Germany, was finally completed. Construction began in 1248, was halted in 1473, and then begun again in the 1800's - completed after 632 years.

In 1900, Minnie was 20 years old when the German physicist Max Planck formulated an energy theory, postulating the existence of "quanta," which lays the groundwork for the quantum theory of modern physics. In December, he introduced a paper on the Planck postulate which stated that E=hv - the energy of a photon is proportional to its frequency times a constant. Planck won a Nobel Prize in 1918 for his work in theoretical Physics.

In 1913, when she was 33 years old, the 17th Amendment, establishing the direct election of U.S. Senators, was adopted. Previously, Senators were elected by state legislatures. As early as 1826, a call to elect senators through popular vote was championed and previous to the 17th amendment, two states had already changed their process. Governors are still able to appoint senators to vacant seats until an election can be held.

In 1931, she was 51 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 1970, in the year of Minnie Elsie Mar Mitchell'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.