On 3 Mar 1915, the US Naval Reserve was founded. Toward the end of the Nineteenth Century “naval militias,” organized in a number of states, represented the Navy’s manpower reserve. During the Spanish-American War naval militia units assisted in...
On 5 Feb 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed an increase in the size of the US Supreme Court—his ‘court packing’ proposal. It failed. However, this act ultimately succeeded in convincing the Justices to ignore the actual words in our...
On 31 Oct 1941, USS Reuben James (DD-245)—a post-WWI four-funnel Clemson-class destroyer—was the first US Navy ship sunk by hostile action in WWII—this before the US entered the war. Upon the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, she joined...
On 22 June 1944, during WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill, an unprecedented act to compensate military members –known as GIs–for their efforts in WW II. As the last of his sweeping New Deal reforms, Roosevelt created...