William A Adams (1919 - 1997)

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

In 1919, in the year that William A Adams was born, in January, Nebraska was the 36th state to ratify the 18th Amendment, making it the law of the land. The 18th Amendment established Prohibition - a law against the production, transport, and sale of alcohol. Private consumption and possession were not prohibited. Several months later, the Volstead Act was passed, creating laws to enforce the Amendment. Bootlegging and bathtub gin followed.

In 1929, he was just 10 years old when on March 4th, Herbert Hoover became the 31st President of the United States. Early in his presidency, the October stock market crash - "Black Tuesday" - occurred, which lead to the Great Depression. None of his economic policies were able to make a dent in the Depression. This lead to one term and the election of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt winning the 1933 election in a landslide.

In 1932, William was just 13 years old when on February 27th, actress Elizabeth Taylor was born in London. Her parents were Americans living in London and when she was 7, the family moved to Los Angeles. Her first small part in a movie was in There's One Born Every Minute in 1942 but her first starring role was in National Velvet in 1944. She became as famous for her 8 marriages (to 7 people) as she was for her beauty and films.

In 1946, William was 27 years old when on July 4th, the Philippines gained independence from the United States. In 1964, Independence Day in the Philippines was moved from July 4th to June 12th at the insistence of nationalists and historians.

In 1997, in the year of William A Adams's passing, on August 31st, Princess Diana of Great Britain was killed when her car crashed into a pillar in the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris. The car she was riding in was trying to evade the paparazzi but it was also discovered later that the driver of the car, who was also killed, had three times the legal limit of alcohol which likely contributed to the accident.