Moments in Time – April 25, 2018

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  • On May 7, 1789, President George Washington attends a ball in his honor. The event provided a model for the first official inaugural ball, which later became an annual tradition. The record number of inaugural balls attended in one night by a president is 15, set by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
  • On May 11, 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient. In 1952, Goodrich won patents, and the tubeless tire quickly became standard on most new automobiles.
  • On May 13, 1958, anti-American demonstrators pelt then-Vice President Richard Nixon’s limousine with rocks in Caracas, Venezuela. Despite warnings not to send Nixon to Venezuela, where anti-American sentiment ran particularly high, he went anyway.
  • On May 12, 1963, Bob Dylan walks out on “The Ed Sullivan Show” after network censors rejected the song he planned to perform, “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues.” Sullivan had heard the song days before and had no concerns.
  • On May 9, 1971, the last original episode of the sitcom “The Honeymooners,” starring Jackie Gleason, airs. Although a perennial rerun favorite in syndication, only 39 episodes actually aired.
  • On May 8, 1984, the Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. It was a response to the United States’ decision to boycott the 1980 Moscow games. Thirteen other communist nations also refused to compete.
  • On May 10, 1990, the government of the People’s Republic of China announces the release of 211 people arrested during the massive protests held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989. Observers viewed it as an attempt by China to dispel much of the terrible publicity it received for its brutal suppression of the 1989 protests.

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