November 25, 1973
Nixon calls for Sunday ban on gasoline Sales
On this day, in response to the 1973 oil crisis, President Richard M. Nixon called for a Sunday ban on the sale of gasoline to consumers. The proposal was part of a larger plan announced by Nixon earlier in the month to achieve energy self-sufficiency in the United States by 1980. The 1973 oil crisis began in mid-October, when 11 Arab oil producers increased oil prices and cut back production in response to the support of the United States and other nations for Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Almost overnight, gasoline prices quadrupled, and the U.S. economy, especially its automakers, suffered greatly as a result. The Sunday gasoline ban lasted until the crisis was resolved in March of the next year, but other government legislation, such as the imposing of a national speed limit of 55mph, was extended indefinitely. Experts maintained that the reduction of speed on America’s highways would prevent an estimated 9,000 traffic fatalities per year. Although many motorists resented the new legislation, one long-lasting benefit for impatient travelers was the ability to make right turns at a red light, a change that the authorities estimated would conserve a significant amount of gasoline. In 1995, the national 55mph speed limit was repealed, and legislation relating to highway speeds now rests in state hands.
“Nixon calls for Sunday ban on gasoline Sales.” 2008. The History Channel website. 25 Nov 2008, 11:15 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=7814.
1758 – During the French and Indian War, the British captured Fort Duquesne at what is now known as Pittsburgh.
1783 – During the Revolutionary War, the British evacuated New York. New York was their last military position in the U.S.
1850 – Texas relinquished one-third of its territory in exchange for $10 million from the U.S. to pay its public debts and settle border disputes.
1867 – Alfred Nobel patented dynamite.
1936 – The Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement between Japan and Germany, was signed.
1947 – Movie studio executives meeting in New York agreed to blacklist the “Hollywood 10,” who were cited a day earlier and jailed for contempt of Congress when they failed to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee.
1955 – In the U.S., the Interstate Commerce Commission banned racial segregation on interstate trains and buses.
1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a stroke.
1976 – O.J. Simpson (Buffalo Bills) ran for 273 yards against the Detroit Lions.
1985 – Ronald W. Pelton was arrested on espionage charges. Pelton was a former employee of the National Security Agency. He was later convicted of ‘selling secrets’ to Soviet agents.
1986 – U.S. President Reagan and Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to rebels in Nicaragua.
1998 – President Jiang Zemin arrived in Tokyo for the first visit to Japan by a Chinese head of state since World War II.
November 25, 1963
Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington
On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated three days earlier, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was his son’s third birthday.
Kennedy’s coffin had lain in state in the rotunda of the Capitol building the previous day. Approximately 250,000 people streamed by the closed flag-draped coffin in a massive outpouring of respect. The next day, television and movie cameras rolled while Kennedy’s wife Jackie, his brothers Robert and Ted, political leaders and foreign dignitaries formed a solemn funeral procession behind Kennedy’s coffin as it was transferred atop a horse-drawn caisson to St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Observers noted the only sounds that could be heard were the cadence of drum beats and horses’ hooves and muffled sobs from the approximately 1 million people who lined the route between the Capitol and the cathedral. At one point, Kennedy’s son, John Jr., who turned three that day, was filmed saluting his father’s coffin.
After the state funeral at St. Matthew’s–the family had held a private mass at the White House on November 23–the mourners proceeded to Arlington National Cemetery by car where Kennedy, a decorated World War II hero, was buried with military honors. Kennedy was the second president to be buried at Arlington; President William Howard Taft had been interred there in 1930.
Although Kennedy had not specified where he wanted to be buried, most assumed his gravesite would be in his home state of Massachusetts. In March 1963, though, President Kennedy had made an unscheduled tour of Arlington and had reportedly remarked to a friend on the view of the Potomac River from the cemetery’s Custis-Lee Mansion, saying it was “so magnificent I could stay forever.” After the assassination, Kennedy’s brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, suggested Arlington be Kennedy’s final resting place. Jackie toured the site on November 24 and made the final decision, saying “he belongs to the people.”
“Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington .” 2008. The History Channel website. 25 Nov 2008, 11:18 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=52019.
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