WASHINGTON INAUGURATED AS FIRST PRESIDENT
George Washington was inaugurated today as the 1st President of the United States under the Constitution of the United States in New York City.
The ceremony took place at Federal Hall. The President-elect took his position on the balcony & with his hand on the Bible took the oath of office from New York Chancellor Robert Livingston.
Washington wore a dark brown suit with white silk stockings.
After repeating the oath as prescribed in the Constitution, Washington added the words: "So Help Me God" & then kissed the Bible used for the ceremony.
Afterwards, the President presented his inaugural address to the Congress inside Federal Hall.
In his inaugural address, the President said:
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States."
Swearing-in of the 1st US President
Federal Hall, New York City
April 30, 1789
Painting by Ramon de Elorriaga (1899)
April 30, 1939
WORLD'S FAIR OPENS IN NEW YORK CITY
The opening ceremonies of the 1939 World's Fair were held in New York City today.
The Fair is located on 1200 acres at Flushing Meadow Park.
The ceremonies, attended by more than 200,000, included speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt & New York Governor Herbert Lehman.
The ceremonies, televised for the 1st time in history, were held on the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington.
New technologies on display at the Fair include FM radio & fluorescent lighting.
Sixty-three nations will participate in the Fair.
1939 New York World's Fair
April 30, 1975
SAIGON FALLS TO THE COMMUNISTS
The long war in Vietnam finally ended today as North Vietnamese troops easily occupied the South Vietnamese capital city of Saigon.
North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace.
North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepted surrendered from South Vietnamese General Duong Van Minh.
Colonel Tin said to General Van Minh:
"You have nothing to fear. Between Vietnamese there are no victors & no vanquished. Only the Americans are beaten."
South Vietnamese Attempt to Enter US Embassy in Saigon
April 30, 1945
HITLER COMMITS SUICIDE IN BUNKER
German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler committed suicide today in his Bunker 55 feet below the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Hitler, who had been in the Bunker since January 16, took a cyanide capsule & shot himself with a pistol.
His wife, Eva Braun, joined her husband in suicide.
With Soviet troops nearby & in the process of bombarding the city, the bodies were taken, following Hitler's orders, to the garden outside the entrance to the Bunker where they were cremated.
Photo Outside The Bunker
From Deutsches Bundesarchiv
July 1947
April 30, 1948
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES CHARTERED
Representatives of the United States & 20 nations of Latin America signed the charter of the Organization of American States today.
The OAS is designed to help establish better political relations between member countries as well as provide a buffer against the threat of communist infiltration into the Western Hemisphere.
The OAS was chartered a year after the Rio Pact set up a defensive military alliance between the US & Latin America.
The OAS Charter condemns international communism & says "no state has the right to intervene in the affairs of any other state."
OAS Building, Washington, D.C.
Photo by Joshua Sherurcij (2008)
