The First Airplane Crash

It had only been five years since Orville and Wilbur Wright made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk. By 1908, the Wright brothers were traveling across the United States and Europe in order to demonstrate their flying machine. Everything went well until that fateful day in September that began with a cheering crowd of 2,000 and ended with pilot Orville Wright severely injured and passenger Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge dead.

A Flight Exhibition

Orville Wright had done this before. He had taken his first official passenger, Lt. Frank P. Lahm, into the air on September 10 at Fort Myer, Virginia. Two days later, Orville took another passenger, Major George O. Squier, up in the Flyer for nine minutes.

These flights were part of an exhibition for the United States Army. The U.S. Army was considering purchasing the Wrights' aircraft for a new military airplane. To get this contract, Orville had to prove that the airplane could successfully carry passengers.

Though the first two trials had been successful, the third was to prove a catastrophe.

Lift Off!

Twenty-six year-old Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge volunteered to be a passenger. A member of the Aerial Experiment Association (an organization headed by Alexander Graham Bell and in direct competition with the Wrights), Lt. Selfridge was also on the Army board that was assessing the Wrights' Flyer at Fort Myers, Virginia.

It was just after 5 p.m. on September 17, 1908, when Orville and Lt. Selfridge got into the airplane. Lt. Selfridge was the Wrights' heaviest passenger thus far, weighing 175 pounds. Once the propellers were turned, Lt. Selfridge waved to the crowd. For this demonstration, approximately 2,000 people were present.

The weights were dropped and the airplane was off.

Out of Control

The Flyer was up in the air. Orville was keeping it very simple and had successfully flown three laps over the parade ground at an altitude of approximately 150 feet.

Then Orville heard light tapping. He turned and quickly looked behind him, but he didn't see anything wrong. Just to be safe, Orville thought he should turn off the engine and glide to the ground.

But before Orville could shut off the engine, he heard "two big thumps, which gave the machine a terrible shaking."1

The machine would not respond to the steering and lateral balancing levers, which produced a most peculiar feeling of helplessness.2

Something flew off the airplane. (It was later discovered to be a propeller.) Then the airplane suddenly veered right. Orville couldn't get the machine to respond. He shut off the engine. Yet he kept trying to regain control of the airplane.

. . . I continued to push the levers, when the machine suddenly turned to the left. I reversed the levers to stop the turning and to bring the wings on a level. Quick as a flash, the machine turned down in front and started straight for the ground.3

Throughout the flight, Lt. Selfridge had remained silent. A few times Lt. Selfridge had glanced at Orville to see Orville's reaction to the situation.

The airplane was about 75 feet in the air when it started a nose-dive to the ground. Lt. Selfridge let out a near inaudible "Oh! Oh!"

The Crash

Heading straight for the ground, Orville was not able to regain control. The Flyer hit the ground hard. The crowd was at first in silent shock. Then everyone ran over to the wreckage.

The crash created a cloud of dust. Orville and Lt. Selfridge were both pinned in the wreckage. They were able to disentangle Orville first. He was bloody, but conscious. It was harder to get Selfridge out. He too was bloody and had an injury to his head. Lt. Selfridge was unconscious.

The two men were taken by stretcher to the nearby post hospital. Doctors operated on Lt. Selfridge, but at 8:10 p.m., Lt. Selfridge died from a fractured skull, without ever regaining consciousness. Orville suffered a broken left leg, several broken ribs, cuts on his head, and many bruises.

Lt. Thomas Selfridge was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. He was the first man to die in an airplane.

Orville Wright was released from the Army hospital on October 31. Though he would walk and fly again, Orville continued to suffer from fractures in his hip that had gone unnoticed at the time. Orville later determined that the crash was caused by a stress crack in the propeller. The Wrights soon redesigned the Flyer to eliminate the flaws that led to this accident.

Notes

1. Orville Wright as quoted in Curtis Prendergast, The First Aviators (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1980) 58.
2. Orville Wright as quoted in Ibid 58.
3. Orville Wright as quoted in Ibid 58.

Bibliography

Howard, Fred. Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

Prendergast, Curtis. The First Aviators. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1980.

Whitehouse, Arch. The Early Birds: The Wonders and Heroics of the First Decades of Flight. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1965.

1905 - Einstein Proposes His Theory of Relativity

Einstein Proposes His Theory of Relativity (1905):

In 1905, Albert Einstein was a 26-year-old young man working six days a week in the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. In between work and his family life (he had a wife and son), Einstein worked diligently on his scientific theories. Even with what seems like very little time, Einstein had his most productive and momentous year of revolutionary scientific theories that year.

In 1905, Einstein wrote five articles and had them published in the prestigious Annalen der Physik (Annals of Physics). In one of these papers, “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Koerper” (“On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”), Einstein detailed his Special Theory of Relativity.

There were two main parts of his theory. First, Einstein discovered that the speed of light is constant. Secondly, Einstein determined that space and time are not absolutes; rather, they are relative to the position of the observer.

For example, if a young boy were to roll a ball across the floor of a moving train, how fast was the ball moving? To the boy, it might look like the ball was moving at 1 mile per hour. However, to someone watching the train go by, the ball would appear to be moving the one mile per hour plus the speed of the train (40 miles per hour). To someone watching the event from space, the ball would be moving the one mile per hour the boy had noticed, plus the 40 miles an hour of the speed of the train, plus the speed of the earth.

In a follow-up paper published that same year, “Ist die Traegheit eines Koerpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhaengig?” (“Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”), Einstein determined the relationship between mass and energy. Not only are they not independent entities, which had been a long held belief, their relationship could be explained with the formula E=mc2 (E=energy, m=mass, c=speed of light).

Brownie Camera

Historical Importance of the Brownie Camera:
The Brownie camera was the first hand-held camera that was cheap enough and simple enough for even children to use, making photography accessible to the masses.
Dates:
February 1900
Also Known As:
Kodak's Brownie Camera
Overview of the Brownie Camera:
In 1900, the Eastman Kodak Company introduced a low-priced, point-and-shoot, hand-held camera, called the Brownie. The Brownie camera was designed, priced, and marketed to have wide appeal.

The Brownie camera was a simple, black, rectangular box covered in imitation leather with nickeled fittings. To take a "snapshot," all one had to do was hold the camera waist height, aim, and turn a switch. Kodak claimed in its advertisements that the Brownie camera was "so simple they can easily [be] operated by any school boy or girl" (excerpt from an ad in Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 1900). Though simple enough for even children to use, a 44-page instruction booklet accompanied every Brownie camera.

The Brownie camera was very affordable, selling for only $1 each. Plus, for only 15 cents, a Brownie camera owner could buy a six-exposure film cartridge that could be loaded in daylight. Kodak promised to develop the film for the camera's owner, rather than the owner having to invest in materials and a darkroom.

Kodak heavily marketed the Brownie camera to children. In ads, the camera was accompanied by the very popular Brownie characters, elf-like creatures created by Palmer Cox. Ads for the Brownie camera appeared in popular magazines, rather than just trade journals. Children under the age of sixteen were also urged to join the Brownie Camera Club, a free club in which they could earn prizes for good photos and receive a Photographic Art Brochure.

No longer was taking photographs just for the professionals and only of grand events, the Brownie camera allowed the capturing of birthdays and other family events. In just the first year, the Eastman Kodak Company sold over a quarter of a million Brownies, forever changing the future of photography.

1900 - Boxer Rebellion

A Rebellion in China Against All Foreigners

Boxer Rebellion (1900): Beginning in 1898, groups of peasants in northern China began to band together into a secret society known as I-ho ch'üan ("Righteous and Harmonious Fists"), called the "Boxers" by Western press. Members of the secret society practiced boxing and calisthenic rituals (hence the nickname, the "Boxers") which they believed would make them impervious to bullets.

At first, the Boxers wanted to destroy the Ch'ing dynasty (which had ruled China for over 250 years) and wanted to rid China of all foreign influence (which they considered a threat to Chinese culture). When the Empress Dowager backed the Boxers, the Boxers turned solely to ridding China of foreigners.

By late 1899, bands of Boxers were massacring Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians. By May 1900, the Boxer Rebellion had come out of the countryside and was being waged in the capital of Peking (now Beijing). To help their fellow countrymen and to protect their interests in China, an international force of 2,100 American, British, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese soldiers were sent to subdue the "rebellion."

On June 18, 1900, the Empress Dowager ordered all foreigners to be killed. Several foreign ministers and their families were killed before the international force could protect them. On August 14, 1900, the international force took Peking and subdued the rebellion.

The Boxer Rebellion weakened the Ch'ing dynasty's power and hastened the Republican Revolution of 1911 that overthrew the boy emperor and made China a republic.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Historical Importance of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake:
Scientific study of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake led to the formation of the elastic-rebound theory, which helps explain why earthquakes occur. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was also the first large, natural disaster whose damage was recorded by photography.
Dates:
5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906

Also Known As:
The Great Quake and Fire; The Great Shake; The Great San Francisco Earthquake
Overview of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake:
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a foreshock hit San Francisco. However, it offered just a quick warning, for massive devastation was soon to follow. Approximately 20 to 25 seconds after the foreshock, the large quake hit. With the epicenter near San Francisco, the entire city was rocked. Chimneys fell, walls caved in, and gas lines broke. Asphalt that covered the streets buckled and piled up. Many people didn't have time to even get out of bed before they were killed by falling debris.

The earthquake lasted for approximately 40 to 60 seconds. Almost immediately, fires broke out across the city from broken gas lines and stoves that had fallen over during the shaking. The fires spread ferociously across San Francisco. Unfortunately, most of the water mains had also broken during the quake and the fire chief was an early victim of falling debris. Without water and without leadership, it's amazing the city was able to get the fires under control in just four days. However, massive amounts of damage had already been done.

The quake and subsequent fire left more than half San Francisco's population homeless, destroyed 28,000 buildings, and killed approximately 700 to 3,000 people.

The quake ruptured a total of 290 miles of the earth's surface along the San Andreas Fault, from northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino. Though most of the damage was focused in San Francisco (a large part because of the fires), the quake was felt all the way from Oregon to Los Angeles.

Scientists are still trying to accurately calculate the magnitude of the quake. Since the scientific instruments used to measure the earthquake weren't as reliable as more modern ones, scientists have yet to agree on the size of the magnitude, but most place it between 7.7 and 7.9 on the Richter scale (a few have said as high as 8.3).

1955 - James Dean Dies in Car Accident

James Dean Dies in Car Accident (1955): James Dean had appeared in a number of television shows before getting his "big break" in 1954 when he was chosen to play Cal Trask, the leading male role in the film East of Eden (1955). (This was the only one of Dean's films that was released before his death.)

Quickly following East of Eden, James Dean was signed to play Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), the film for which Dean is best remembered. Immediately following the filming for Rebel Without a Cause, Dean played the lead role in Giant (1956). (Both of these films were released after Dean's death.)

As Dean's movie career began to "take off," James Dean also started to race cars. In March 1955, Dean raced in the Palm Springs Road Races and in May of that year he raced in the Minter Field Bakersfield race and the Santa Barbara Road Races.

James Dean liked to speed. In September 1955, Dean replaced his white Porsche 356 Super Speedster with a new, silver Porsche 550 Spyder. Dean had the car specialized by having the number "130" painted on both the front and back. Also painted on the back of the car was "Little Bastard," Dean's nickname given to him by Bill Hickman (Dean's dialogue coach for Giant).

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder to an auto rally in Salinas, California when the fatal accident occurred. Originally planning to tow the Porsche to the rally, Dean changed his mind at the last minute and decided to drive the Porsche instead. While Dean and Rolf Wuetherich (Dean's mechanic) rode in the Porsche, Dean had photographer Sanford Roth and friend Bill Hickman follow him in his Ford station wagon, which had a trailer for the Spyder attached.

En route to Salinas, Dean was pulled over by police officers near Bakersfield for speeding around 3:30 p.m. After being stopped, Dean and Wuetherich continued on their way. Two hours later, around 5:30 p.m., they were driving westbound on Highway 466 (now called State Route 46), when a 1950 Ford Tutor pulled out in front of them. Twenty-three-year-old Donald Turnupseed, who was driving the Ford Tutor, has been traveling east on Highway 466 and was attempting to make a left turn onto Highway 41. Unfortunately, Turnupseed had already started to make his turn before he saw the roaring Porsche traveling quickly toward him. Without time to turn, the two cars smashed nearly head-on.

The injuries among the three involved in the crash varied greatly. Turnupseed, the driver of the Ford, only received minor injuries from the accident. Rolf Wuetherich, the passenger in the Porsche, was lucky to be thrown from the Porsche and thus suffered serious head injuries and a broken leg, but survived the crash. James Dean, however, was killed in the accident. Dean was only 24-years-old when he died in the car accident.

Although already famous for his role in East of Eden, his death and the release of Rebel Without a Cause caused him to soar to cult status. James Dean, forever frozen as the talented, misunderstood, rebellious youth, remains the symbol of teenage angst.

In 1956, James Dean was nominated for Best Leading Actor for his role in East of Eden, which made Dean the first person in history to receive an Academy Award nomination posthumously. In 1957, Dean was again nominated for Best Leading Actor, this time for his role in Giant. Dean remains the only person to receive two Academy Award nominations posthumously.

Many Dean fans wonder what happened to the smashed Porsche. After the accident, the crumpled car was toured around the United States as part of a driver safety presentation. However, en route between two stops, the car disappeared. In 2005, Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois offered $1 million to anyone who currently had the car. So far, the car has not resurfaced.

Vietnam War

Historical Importance of the Vietnam War: The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts.

Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975

Also Known As: American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nation

Overview of the Vietnam War:

Ho Chi Minh Comes Home

There had been fighting in Vietnam for decades before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. It was in 1941, when Vietnam had two foreign powers occupying them, that communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh arrived back in Vietnam after spending thirty years traveling the world.

Once Ho was back in Vietnam, he established a headquarters in a cave in northern Vietnam and established the Viet Minh, whose goal was to rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers. Having gained support for their cause in northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh announced the establishment of an independent Vietnam with a new government called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back.

For years, Ho had tried to court the United States to support him against the French, including supplying the U.S. with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II. Despite this aid, the United States was fully dedicated to their Cold War foreign policy of containment, which meant preventing the spread of Communism. This fear of the spread of Communism was heightened by the U.S. "domino theory," which stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would also soon fall. To help prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country, the U.S. decided to help France defeat Ho and his revolutionaries by sending the French military aid in 1950.

France Steps Out, U.S. Steps In

In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, a number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The agreement that came out of the conference (called the Geneva Accords) stipulated a cease fire for the peaceful withdrawal of French forces and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel (which split the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam). In addition, a general democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government. The United States refused to agree to the election, fearing the communists might win.

With help from the United States, South Vietnam carried out the election only in South Vietnam rather than countrywide. After eliminating most of his rivals, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected. His leadership, however, proved so horrible that he was killed in 1963 during a coup supported by the United States. Since Diem had alienated many South Vietnamese during his tenure, communist sympathizers in South Vietnam established the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, in 1960 to use guerilla warfare against the South Vietnamese.

First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to Vietnam

As the fighting between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese continued, the U.S. continued to send additional advisers to South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 (known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident), Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S. ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965.

Johnson's Plan for Success

President Johnson's goal for U.S. involvement in Vietnam was not for the U.S. to win the war, but for U.S. troops to bolster South Vietnam's defenses until South Vietnam could take over. By entering the Vietnam War without a goal to win, Johnson set the stage for future public and troop disappointment when the U.S. found themselves in a stalemate with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.

From 1965 to 1969, the U.S. was involved in a limited war in Vietnam. Although there were aerial bombings of the North, President Johnson wanted the fighting to be limited to South Vietnam. By limiting the fighting parameters, the U.S. forces would not conduct a serious ground assault into the North to attack the communists directly nor would there be any strong effort to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Viet Cong's supply path that ran through Laos and Cambodia).

Life in the Jungle

U.S. troops fought a jungle war, mostly against the well-supplied Viet Cong. The Viet Cong would attack in ambushes, set up booby traps, and escape through a complex network of underground tunnels. For U.S. forces, even just finding their enemy proved difficult. Since Viet Cong hid in the dense brush, U.S. forces would drop Agent Orange or napalm bombs which cleared an area by causing the leaves to drop off or to burn away. In every village, U.S. troops had difficulty determining which, if any, villagers were the enemy since even women and children could build booby traps or help house and feed the Viet Cong. U.S. soldiers commonly became frustrated with the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Many suffered from low morale, became angry, and some used drugs.

Surprise Attack

On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese surprised both the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese by orchestrating a coordinated assault with the Viet Cong to attack about a hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns. Although the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army were able to repel the assault known as the Tet Offensive, this attack proved to Americans that the enemy was stronger and better organized than they had been led to believe. The Tet Offensive was a turning point in the war because President Johnson, faced now with an unhappy American public and bad news from his military leaders in Vietnam, decided to no longer escalate the war.

Nixon's Plan for "Peace With Honor"

In 1969, Richard Nixon became the new U.S. President and he had his own plan to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Nixon outlined a plan called Vietnamization, which was a process to remove U.S. troops from Vietnam while handing back the fighting to the South Vietnamese. The withdrawal of U.S. troops began in July 1969. To bring a faster end to hostilities, President Nixon also expanded the war into other countries, such as Laos and Cambodia -- a move that created thousands of protests, especially on college campuses, back in America. To work toward peace, new peace talks began in Paris on January 25, 1969.

When the U.S. had withdrawn most of its troops from Vietnam, the North Vietnamese staged another massive assault, called the Easter Offensive (also called the Spring Offensive), on March 30, 1972. North Vietnamese troops crossed over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel and invaded South Vietnam. The remaining U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army fought back.

The Paris Peace Accords

On January 27, 1973, the peace talks in Paris finally succeeded in producing a cease-fire agreement. The last U.S. troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973, knowing they were leaving a weak South Vietnam who would not be able to withstand another major communist North Vietnam attack.

Reunification of Vietnam

After the U.S. had withdrawn all its troops, the fighting continued in Vietnam. In early 1975, North Vietnam made another big push south which toppled the South Vietnamese government. South Vietnam officially surrendered to communist North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. On July 2, 1976, Vietnam was reunited as a communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

John Lennon : Biography of The Beatles' John Lennon

Full Name:
Originally John Winston Lennon, later John Ono Lennon
Born:
October 9, 1940
Died:
December 8, 1980
John Lennon Quote:
"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all."
Significant Facts About John Lennon:

* Had two distinct careers, as singer-songwriter-guitarist for The Beatles, then as a solo musician, author, and political activist
* Had a major influence on the evolution of rock music as a force for social and political change
* Performed with, recorded with, and married Yoko Ono, whom he met at an exhibit of her art n London in 1966
* Shot and killed by a deranged fan outside his New York City apartment as he and Yoko returned from a recording session in December, 1980

John Lennon Before and After The Beatles:
His mother taught him to play banjo as a child. He formed the group that would eventually become The Beatles, then called The Quarry Men, in the late 50s. After The Beatles split in 1970, he continued writing and performing as a solo artist until 1975, when he retired. He had just released a comeback album shortly before his death in 1980.

The Beatles

Historical Importance the Beatles:

The Beatles shaped not only music but also an entire generation. People mimicked all that they did, including haircuts, clothing, and outlook. Their style and innovative music set the standard for all musicians to follow.

Dates:
1957 -- 1970

Members:
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr (stage name of Richard Starkey)
Also Known As:
Quarry Men, Johnny and the Moondogs, Silver Beetles, Beatals

Overview of the Beatles:
John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met on July 6, 1957 at a fete (fair) sponsored by St. Peter's Parish Church in Woolton (a suburb of Liverpool), England. Though John was only 16, he had already formed a band called the Quarry Men, who were performing at the fete. Mutual friends introduced them after the show and Paul, who had just turned 15, wowed John with his guitar playing and ability to remember lyrics. Within a week of meeting, Paul had become part of the band.
In early 1958, Paul recognized talent in his friend George Harrison and the band asked him to join them. However, since John, Paul, and George all played guitars, they were still looking for someone to play bass guitar and/or the drums.

In 1959, Stu Sutcliffe, an art student who couldn't play a lick, filled the position of bass guitarist and in 1960, Pete Best, who was popular with the girls, became the drummer. In the summer of 1960, the band was offered a two-month gig in Hamburg, Germany.
It was also in 1960 that the Stu suggested a new name for the band. In honor of Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets, -- of whom Stu was a huge fan -- he recommended the name of "The Beetles." John changed the spelling of the name to "Beatles" as a pun for "beat music," another name for rock 'n' roll.

In 1961, back in Hamburg, Stu quit the band and went back to studying art, so Paul took up the bass guitar. When the band (now only four members) returned to Liverpool, they had fans.
In the fall of 1961, the Beatles signed a manager, Brian Epstein. Epstein succeeded in getting the band a record contract in March 1962. After hearing a few sample songs, George Martin, the producer, decided he liked the music but was even more enchanted with the boys' witty humor. Martin signed the band to a one-year record contract but recommended a studio drummer for all recordings. John, Paul, and George used this as an excuse to fire Best and replace him with Ringo Starr.
In September 1962, the Beatles recorded their first single. On one side of the record was the song "Love Me Do" and on the flip side, "P.S. I Love You." Their first single was a success but it was their second, with the song "Please Please Me," that made them their first number-one hit. By early 1963, their fame began to soar. After quickly recording a long album, the Beatles spent much of 1963 touring.

Though Beatlemania had overtaken Great Britain, the Beatles still had the challenge of the United States. Though the Beatles had already achieved one number-one hit in the U.S. and had been greeted by 5,000 screaming fans when they arrived at the New York airport, it was their February 9, 1963, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that ensured Beatlemania in America.

By 1964, the Beatles were making movies. Their first film, A Hard Day's Night portrayed an average day in the life of the Beatles, most of which was running from chasing girls. The Beatles followed this with four additional movies: Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (animated, 1968), and Let It Be (1970).

By 1966, the Beatles were growing weary of their popularity. Plus, John caused an uproar when he was quoted as saying, "We're more popular than Jesus now." The group, tired and worn out, decided to end their touring and solely record albums.

About this same time, the Beatles began to shift to psychedelic influences. They started using marijuana and LSD and learning about Eastern thought. These influences shaped their Sgt. Pepper album. In August 1967, the Beatles received the terrible news of the sudden death of their manager, Brian Epstein. The Beatles never rebounded as a group after Epstein's death.

Many people blame John's obsession with Yoko Ono and/or Paul's new love, Linda Eastman, as the reason for the band's break up. However, the band members had been growing apart for years. On August 20, 1969, the Beatles recorded together for the very last time and in 1970 the group officially dissolved.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo went their separate ways. Unfortunately, John's life was cut short when a deranged fan shot him on December 8, 1980. George died in November 29, 2001 from a long battle with throat cancer.

Elvis Presley : A Biography of the King of Rock 'n' Roll

the greatest king rock n roll of the life time!

20th Century History

Historical Importance of Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley, a cultural icon of the 20th century, was a singer and actor. Elvis sold over one billion records and made 33 movies.

Dates: January 8, 1935 -- August 16, 1977

Also Known As: Elvis Aaron Presley, The King of Rock 'n' Roll, The King

Biography of Elvis Presley:

From Humble Beginnings

After a difficult birth, Elvis Presley was born to parents Gladys and Vernon Presley at 4:35 a.m. on January 8, 1935 in the couple's small, two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis' twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn and Gladys was so ill from the birth that she was taken to the hospital. She was never able to have more children.

Gladys doted on her sandy-haired, blue-eyed son and worked very hard to keep her family together. She especially struggled when Vernon was sentenced to three years in the Parchman Farm Prison for forgery. (Vernon had sold a pig for $4, but had changed the check to either $14 or $40.)

With Vernon in prison, Gladys could not earn enough to keep the house, so three-year-old Elvis and his mom moved in with some relatives. This was the first of many moves for Elvis and his family.

Learning Music

Since Elvis moved often, he had only two things that were consistent in his childhood: his parents and music. With his parents usually busy at work, Elvis found music wherever he could. He listened to music in church and even taught himself how to play the church piano. When Elvis was eight, he often hung out at the local radio station. When he turned eleven, his parents gave him a guitar for his birthday.

By high school, Elvis' family had moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Although Elvis joined R.O.T.C., played on the football team, and worked as an usher at a local movie theater, these activities did not stop other students from picking on him. Elvis was different. He dyed his hair black and wore it in a style that more closely resembled a comic book character (Captain Marvel Jr.) than other kids in his school.

With problems at school, Elvis continued to surround himself with music. He listened to the radio and bought records. After moving with his family to Lauderdale Courts, an apartment complex, he often played with other aspiring musicians who lived there. To listen to a wider variety of music, Elvis crossed the color line (segregation was still strongly in force in the South) and listened to African-American artists, such as B.B. King. Elvis would also often visit Beale Street in the African-American section of town and watch black musicians play.

Elvis' Big Break

By the time Elvis graduated from high school, he could sing in various styles, from hillbilly to gospel. More importantly, Elvis also had a style of singing and moving that was all his own. Elvis had taken all that he had seen and heard and combined it into a unique new sound. The first to realize this was Sam Phillips at Sun Records.

After spending the year after high school working a day job, playing at small clubs at night, and wondering if he would ever become a full-time musician, Elvis received a call from Sun Records on June 6, 1954 offering him a big break.

Phillips wanted Elvis to sing a particular new song, but when that didn't work out, he set Elvis up with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. After a month of practicing, Elvis, Moore, and Black recorded "That's All Right (Mama)." Phillips convinced a friend to play it on the radio and it was an instant hit. The song was so well liked that it was played fourteen times in a row.

Elvis Makes It Big

Elvis rose quickly to stardom. On August 15, 1954, Elvis signed a contract for four records with Sun Records. He then began making appearances on popular radio shows such as the famous Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride. Elvis was so successful on the Hayride show that they hired him to perform every Saturday for a year. It was then that Elvis quit his day job. Elvis toured the South during the week, playing anywhere there was a paying audience, but had to be back in Shreveport, Louisiana every Saturday for the Hayride show.

High school and college students went wild for Elvis and his music. They screamed. They cheered. They mobbed him backstage, tearing at his clothes. For his part, Elvis put his soul into every performance. Plus, he moved his body - a lot. This was so very different than any other white performer. Elvis gyrated his hips, jiggled his legs, and fell to his knees on the floor. Adults thought he was lewd and suggestive; teenagers loved him.

As Elvis' popularity soared, he realized that he needed a manager, so he hired "Colonel" Tom Parker. In some ways, Parker took advantage of Elvis over the years, including taking an overly generous cut of Elvis' proceeds. However, Parker also steered Elvis into the mega-star he was to become.

Elvis, the Star

Elvis soon became too popular for the Sun Records studio to handle and Phillips sold Elvis' contract to RCA Victor. At the time, RCA paid $35,000 for Elvis' contract, more than any record company had ever paid for a singer.

To make Elvis even more popular, Parker put Elvis on television. On January 28, 1956, Elvis made his first television appearance on Stage Show, which was soon followed by appearances on the Milton Berle Show, Steve Allen Show, and the Ed Sullivan Show.

In March 1956, Parker arranged for Elvis to get an audition with Paramount Movie Studios. The movie studio liked Elvis so much that they signed him to do his first movie, Love Me Tender (1956), with an option to do six more. About two weeks after his audition, Elvis received his first gold record for "Heartbreak Hotel," which had sold one million copies.

Elvis' popularity was skyrocketing and money was flowing in. Elvis had always wanted to take care of his family and buy his mom a house that she had always wanted. He was able to do this and so much more. In March 1957, Elvis purchased Graceland, a mansion that sat on 13 acres of land, for $102,500. He then had the entire mansion remodeled to his own tastes.

The Army

Just as it seemed that everything Elvis touched turned to gold, on December 20, 1957, Elvis received a draft notice in the mail. Elvis had both the opportunity to be excused from the military and the ability to get special dispensation, but instead, Elvis chose to enter the U.S. Army as a regular soldier. He was stationed in Germany.

With a nearly two year hiatus from his career, many people, including Elvis himself, wondered if the world would forget him while he was in the army. Parker, on the other hand, worked hard to keep Elvis' name and image in the public eye. Parker was so successful at this that some would say Elvis was almost more popular after his military experience than he was before it.

While Elvis was in the army, two major events happened to him. The first was the death of his beloved mother. Her death devastated him. The second was that he met and started dating 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whose father was also stationed in Germany. They married eight years later, on May 1, 1967, and had one child together, a daughter named Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968).

Elvis, the Actor

When Elvis was discharged from the army in 1960, fans once again mobbed him. Elvis was as popular as ever and he got started right away recording new songs and making more movies. Unfortunately, it had become obvious to Parker and others that anything with Elvis' name or image on it would make money, so Elvis was pushed to make movies in quantity rather than in quality. Elvis' most successful movie, Blue Hawaii (1961), became a basic template for many of his later movies. Elvis became increasingly upset about the poor quality of his movies and songs.

With few exceptions, from 1960 until 1968, Elvis made very few public appearances while he focused on making movies. In all, Elvis made 33 movies.

The 1968 Comeback and Las Vegas

While Elvis was away from the stage, other musicians appeared on the scene. A few of these groups, such as the Beatles, riled up teenagers, sold lots of records, and threatened to make Elvis share his title of "King of Rock 'n' Roll," if not take it away. Elvis had to do something to keep his crown.

In December 1968, Elvis, dressed in a black leather outfit, appeared in an hour-long television special titled, Elvis. Calm, sexy, and humorous, Elvis wowed the crowd.

The 1968 "comeback special" energized Elvis. After the success of his television appearance, Elvis got back both into recording and live performances. In July 1969, Parker booked Elvis at the largest venue in Las Vegas, the new International Hotel. Elvis' shows there were a huge success and the hotel booked Elvis for four weeks a year through 1974. The rest of the year, Elvis went on tour.

Elvis Gets Fat

Ever since Elvis had become popular, he had worked at a breakneck speed. He was recording songs, making movies, signing autographs, and giving concerts with little to no rest. To keep up the fast pace, Elvis had started taking prescription drugs.

By the early 1970s, the long and continued use of these drugs began to really cause problems. Elvis started having severe mood swings, aggression, erratic behavior, and gained a lot of weight.

By this time, Elvis and Priscilla had grown apart and in January 1973, the two divorced. After the divorce, Elvis's drug addiction got even worse. Several times he was hospitalized from overdoses and other health problems. His performances began to severely suffer. On many occasions, Elvis just mumbled through songs while on stage.

Death: Elvis Has Left the Building

On the morning of August 16, 1977, Elvis' girlfriend, Ginger Alden, found Elvis on the bathroom floor at Graceland. He wasn't breathing. Elvis was taken to the hospital, where doctors were unable to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. Elvis died at age 42.