This Day in History

Fri, 4 Apr 2025

World Trade Center Opens in New York City (1973)

With seven buildings and a shopping concourse, the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan was the largest commercial complex in the world before it was destroyed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Its most prominent structures were the 110-story rectangular Twin Towers, which, at more than 1,360 ft (415 m) tall, were the tallest buildings in the world until the Sears Tower surpassed them in 1974. How did the construction of the complex lead to the expansion of the island of Manhattan? Discuss

Thu, 3 Apr 2025

Oscar Wilde's Libel Case Begins (1895)

When the marquess of Queensbury became convinced that his son, Alfred Douglas, was having an affair with Wilde, he began to rail against the author and playwright, publicly accusing Wilde of sodomy, a crime at the time. At Douglas's urging, Wilde sued the marquess for libel. He not only lost the case, but was in turn charged with homosexual offenses and arrested. Wilde was convicted in an internationally notorious trial and served two years hard labor. What did he write while in prison?

Wed, 2 Apr 2025

Premieres (1956)

Soap operas began in the early 1930s as 15-minute radio episodes and continued in that format when they began appearing on TV in the early 1950s. As the World Turns premiered as the first half-hour TV soap. The show, which primarily focused on two professional families in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, ran for 54 years and aired nearly 14,000 episodes. For 20 of those years, it was most-watched daytime drama in the US. What interrupted a live broadcast of the show in 1963?