Today in history

(Sources: Peace Buttons, War Resisters League, and the Peace Center.)

June 17

1838
The Cherokee Nation began the 1,200-mile forced march known as the Trail of Tears. Their removal from their ancestral land had been ordered by Pres. Andrew Jackson as the result of a treaty signed by a small minority of the tribe, and approved in the Senate by a one-vote margin. Ordered to move on the Cherokee, General John Wool resigned his command in protest; Gen. Winfield Scott and 7000 troops moved in to enforce the treaty.

“The Trail Where They Cried” (“Nunna daul Tsuny” in the Cherokee language) led from northern Georgia to Oklahoma during which an estimated 4,000 died from hunger, exposure and disease. 

1963

The Supreme Court struck down rules requiring the Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public schools

1972

In the early morning five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. to install bugging devices. They had been hired and financed by President Richard Nixon’s re-election committee. The abuse of power involved in the cover-up of this crime eventually led to the resignation of the President.

left to right: James McCord, Jr., Roman Gonzalez, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio Martinez, and Bernard Baker.

The Historical and Political Context of Watergate
a Watergate chronology

1991
The Supreme Court rules that prison conditions such as overcrowding, poor sanitation, and exposure to violence do not violate th 8th Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.