November 21, 2025
Rebecca Latimer Felton Becomes the First Female US Senator (1922)
Georgia Governor Thomas Hardwick unsuccessfully fought the 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote—and to vote against him in retaliation when he ran for US Senate. Before the election, he tried to appease female voters by naming Felton, an 87-year-old suffragist and white supremacist, to be Georgia's interim senator for the shortest term in history—one day. Felton thus became the first woman, one of the last former slave-owners, and the oldest freshman to serve. Did Hardwick's ploy work? Discuss
November 20, 2025
Microsoft Windows 1.0 Is Released (1985)
Though Microsoft announced its new operating system in the fall of 1983, it was not ready for release until two years later, and the long delay led critics to label the product "vaporware." Even after Windows 1.0 finally hit the market, it was not particularly popular. Still, Windows was more user-friendly than the spare MS-DOS upon which it was built, and it allowed users to multitask. Two years later, it was superseded by Windows 2.0. When did Microsoft finally stop supporting Windows 1.0?
November 19, 2025
Operation Uranus Begins (1942)
In the summer of 1941, a wave of German forces swept into the Soviet Union and proceeded to conquer a vast amount of territory. Stopped at Stalingrad, the Germans became mired in one of the most significant battles of WWII and were ill-prepared for the deteriorating Soviet weather. The enormous Soviet counteroffensive, code-named Operation Uranus, overwhelmed them. Within days, their entire force at Stalingrad was encircled. What nearly delayed the artillery bombardment that began the offensive?
