26 th. October

1785 The first jackasses arrived in America.

1881 A shoot-out took place at the O. K. Corral.

1947 Hillary Rodham Clinton was born.

1955 The U. S. Air Force officially reported that there were no such things as flying saucers.

Every now and then, history turns up an anniversary that has not had its proper due. Today is such a day. In 1785, we are told two jackasses arrived in Boston Harbor from Spain. These were not ordinary jackasses. They were a gift from the King of Spain to President George Washington. They were sent to the fledgling nation so they could be mated with mares to produce America’s first native mules.

On this day, in 1955, the U. S. Air Force officially proclaimed that flying saucers were nothing more than delusions and myths. But the public went right on seeing flying saucers and describing visits with mysterious space creatures. It takes more than an official denial to defeat the power of folklore. From the days of dragons to flying saucers, history has shown us that people believe what they want to believe. And no amount of official documentation will ever make them see anything different.

Today is First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s birthday. It might come as a surprise that in most other nations—including our northern neighbor, Canada—the spotlight doesn’t fall on elected officials’ spouses. Polls which include questions about leaders’ wives are

As American as the phenomenon of First Ladies publicly influencing government policy. This is hardly new. George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Franklin D. Roosevelt—to name just a few—all had strong partners working with them in the White House. Eleanor Roosevelt even became a United Nations ambassador after she left office. born on this day, in 1947, Hillary Rodham Clinton has joined a long and distinguished list of truly American heroines.

The infamous shoot-out at the O. K. Corral took place on this day in 1881. It’s a rather romantic notion: a high-noon shoot-out between Sheriff Wyatt Earp—accompanied by his two brothers, and Doc Holliday—and members of the Ike Clanton gang. But in reality, this bloody incident in Tombstone, Arizona, left three men dead and two more ravaged by gunshot wounds. If that incident were replayed today, law enforcement officials might have captured the Clanton gang without firing a shot. And they’d all be serving sentences for weapons possession, conspiring to commit manslaughter, as well as their previous felonies.