Actual Factual Pie – March 16th!

The year is 1833 and history was made when Susan Hayhurst became the first woman to graduate from a pharmacy college in the United States. Enrolling at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, she broke barriers in a male dominated field, paving the way for future generations of women in pharmacy. A true trailblazer!


In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece The Scarlet Letter was published. This iconic novel, set in Puritan New England, explores themes of sin, guilt and redemption through the story of Hester Prynne forever marked by the scarlet “A.”


In 1913, the mighty 15,000-ton battleship Pennsylvania was launched at Newport News, Virginia. A marvel of naval engineering, she marked a new era of American sea power, ready to defend the nation’s interests with her formidable presence.


In 1945, U.S. forces declared Iwo Jima secure after weeks of intense fighting in one of WWII’s bloodiest battles. Though small pockets of Japanese resistance lingered, this marked a critical victory, giving the Allies a strategic airfield just 660 miles from Tokyo. Over 6,800 Americans and 20,000+ Japanese lost their lives in the campaign.


In 1954, CBS took a bold step to challenge NBC’s Today Show by launching The Morning Show, hosted by the legendary Walter Cronkite. Aiming to capture the morning audience, Cronkite brought his signature gravitas to the program, setting the stage for a new era of broadcast competition. Though it didn’t outlast Today, it marked a pivotal moment in TV history.


In 1985, Terry Anderson, an Associated Press newsman, was abducted by Hezbollah militants in Beirut, Lebanon. While leaving his apartment, Anderson was forced into a car at gunpoint, beginning a nearly seven-year ordeal as a hostage. His captivity, lasting until December 4, 1991, became one of the longest and most publicized cases during the Lebanon hostage crisis that highlighted the dangers journalists faced in the region.

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