Saturday, November 13, 2010

TODAY IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 13
1974:Karen Silkwood, a technician at a Kerr-McGee plant, dies in a one-car crash near Crescent, Okla. Earlier in the year, Silkwood had alerted the Atomic Energy Commission of the plant's unsafe plutonium-handling procedures and the workers' exposure to radioactivity. Silkwood was en route to discuss the contamination case with a New York Times reporter when her car was apparently forced off the road, resulting in her death.

1789: In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, Benjamin Franklin wisely writes that although he is fairly sure the new U.S. Constitution will endure, "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

1956: Citing the "due process" and "equal protection" clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated buses are unconstitutional. The ruling draws the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott to a close.

No comments:

Post a Comment