History Today

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on May 19th. As royal watchers ooh and ahh over Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s new baby, we look back to a not-so-happy royal couple: Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, who was executed on this day in 1536. After Henry’s first wife couldn’t produce a surviving male heir, his affections turned to Anne Boleyn, one of the queen’s ladies in waiting.

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on May 18th. As the big field of Democratic candidates continues to jockey for position ahead of the first presidential primary debate, we look back to this day in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln became the Republican Party’s nominee for president. That November, Lincoln would face Stephen Douglas, whom he had met in the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates, as well as two other candidates.

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on May 17th. Just last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development charged Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act, a rule that prevents racial segregation in housing. It was the latest battle in a legal fight that’s been going on for decades, and on this day 64 years ago, civil rights activists won one of their biggest and most consequential victories in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on May 16th. Andrew Johnson was the first U.S. president ever to be impeached, and on this day in 1868, he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 35-19. Johnson faced 11 articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors related to his resistance to carrying out Congress’ Reconstruction policies after the Civil War. By contrast, Bill Clinton, the second president to be impeached, was charged with only two articles.

Hello and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on May 15th. Today, the city of Washington, D.C. is nearly synonymous with the federal government, but D.C. wasn’t always the American capital. Congress and the president worked out of both New York and Philadelphia before President John Adams ordered the government to move south to the to the newly built capital of Washington, D.C. on this day in 1800.

On this day in History: Seinfeld ended, Lewis and Clark departed, and Sinatra died.

On this day in History: Pope John Paul shot, English settlers arrived in Jamestown, and war declared on Mexico.

On this day in History: First president to be captured on moving pictures, body of Lindbergh baby found, and Bob Dylan walked off the Sullivan stage.

On this day in History: India passed the one billion people mark, Minnesota became a state, and Bob Marley died.

On this day in History: Hoover took over the Bureau, Churchil became Prime Minister, and Mandela inaugurated as President.