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19581776 Club

A rockslide in Lituya Bay drives a wall of water 1,720 feet up the mountainside; two boats are caught in the surge

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake drops 30 million cubic meters of rock into Gilbert Inlet; five die, but Howard Ulrich and his son ride the Edrie over the treeline and back.

At 10:15 p.m. on July 9, 1958, a magnitude 7.8 to 8.3 earthquake ruptured the Fairweather Fault beneath the Alaska panhandle. The shaking sent 30 million cubic meters of rock crashing into Gilbert Inlet at the head of Lituya Bay, displacing water into a wave that scoured the shoreline to 1,720 feet, the tallest wave ever recorded. Two fishing boats anchored in the bay were caught in the surge. Five people died, but Howard Ulrich and his young son survived after their boat, the Edrie, was lifted over the treeline and washed back into the bay…

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More from July 9
1944

Saipan falls to Smith's Marines and infantry; Japan's inner defense ring is broken

Twenty-four days through caves, cane fields, and Tapotchau's slopes: 3,100 Americans dead, 13,000 wounded, and roughly 30,000 Japanese killed.
1863

Gardner surrenders Port Hudson; the Union holds the Mississippi from source to sea

After 48 days on the bluff, half his men sick and the food gone, the Confederate general yields the last rebel stronghold on the river.
1868

Seward proclaims it law: the Fourteenth Amendment is part of the Constitution

The amendment settles in the document what Dred Scott left open, granting citizenship and equal protection to anyone born on American soil.
17761776 Club
Howe is massing troops on Staten Island, and the men who just heard the words that made them revolutionaries will face them within weeks.
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More from Cold War America
1966

Young and Collins ride Agena's engine to 412 nautical miles; no human has flown higher

Gemini 10 docks with its target vehicle hours after liftoff from Cape Kennedy, with Collins set to walk outside and retrieve hardware from a second Agena still drifting in orbit.
1960

From out of the deep to target, perfect: Polaris fires from a submerged submarine

A second missile follows within two hours, both striking 1,100 miles downrange off Florida.
1969

Eagle touches down with about 50 seconds of fuel left; Armstrong radios "the Eagle has landed"

Alarms blared during descent as Mission Control watched the fuel gauge fall, and a spacecraft named for a bird settled into lunar dust.
1962

Jackie Robinson becomes first Black player elected to the Hall of Fame

Five years after his last game, the writers vote him in on the first ballot.
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