December 5th, 2008

Today in History

1978:
The Soviet Union signs a 'friendship treaty' with the communist government of Afghanistan.

1955:
The trade unions American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations decide to merge and form the AFL-CIO.

1941:
The nonfiction book Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck is published (Steinbeck used knowledge gained writing this book to develop the marine biologist character Doc in Cannery Row).

1933:
Prohibition ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 3/4th of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol in the United States).

1776:
At the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Phi Beta Kappa is founded as the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.