Portal:United States/Did you know/archive/2010/November

November 2010

... that with a death toll of 247 people, the Heppner Flood of 1903 (pictured) remains the deadliest natural disaster in Oregon, and the third deadliest flash flood in the entire United States?

... that more than 500,000 Jewish Americans served in the United States armed services during World War II (one soldier's grave pictured), and roughly 52,000 received military awards?
... that National Labor Relations Board Chief Economist David J. Saposs was accused of being a Communist, and Congress defunded his position and division in October 1940?
... that Howard Lester bought Williams-Sonoma in 1976 when it had four stores and sales of US$4 million and grew the company to annual sales of US$3.4 billion at 600 stores, including the Pottery Barn chain?
... that when Pennsylvania judge Cathy Bissoon was four years old, her father was stabbed to death near the family's home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn?
... that members of the segregated US 24th Infantry Regiment claimed that the regiment's achievements at the Battle of Sangju were not recognized due to racism?
... that Cornell University labor law professor James A. Gross has worked as a labor relations mediator for the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball?
... that historian Dan Flores wrote a study of the Red River Expedition, which set out for the American Southwest in 1806 just as Lewis and Clark were returning from the Pacific Northwest?
... that in 1929 the Hudson Motor Car Company ranked third in total U.S. production by targeting budget minded buyers, but introduced the Greater Eight, a premium line of cars, at the height of the Depression?
... that United States lightship WAL 539 was the last lightvessel constructed for the United States Lighthouse Service before it became part of the Coast Guard?
... that besides the existence of 24 tracks recorded in 1928–29, the life of American classic female blues singer Bessie Tucker remains a mystery?
... that only six of the U.S. Supreme Court's nine justices participated in a 1950 anti-communist oath case?
... that the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy was the first United States organization focused on preserving rare breeds of livestock?
... that James Charles Fahey started self-publishing The Ships and Aircraft of the United States Fleet when he thought editors were "butchering" his manuscripts?
... that the New York Sunday Mercury was the most widely read weekly newspaper in the United States in the mid 19th century?

... that after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States tried to buy the last Almirante Latorre-class battleship (pictured) from Chile?