Operation "Flaming Dart"

Operation Flaming Dart was America’s response in 1965 to North Vietnamese attacks on US bases in South Vietnam. Operation Flaming Dart commenced in February 1965 and was ordered by US President Lyndon B Johnson. After a series of attacks on US bases in South Vietnam, mainly the base at Pleiku, Johnson ordered a series of air attacks on North Vietnamese bases in an attempt to warn off the government in Hanoi.

On February 7th 1965 the US base at Camp Holloway was attacked by the Viet Cong. Camp Holloway was near to the South Vietnamese town of Pleiku. Eight US soldiers were killed with over 100 injured. Johnson had two choices. He could both ignore it and treat the attack as a minor one that would not lead to an escalation in terms of the scale of attacks on US bases. Alternately, he could, as commander-in-chief of US forces, order a major military response in a show of power that the Hanoi government would have to respond to. The US military had already selected a number of military targets in North Vietnam and Johnson opted for the second option – though there is little evidence that Johnson was willing to try the diplomatic approach at this moment in time.

On this day: Ronald Reagan's "Slip of the Tongue"

On August 11, 1984, as he prepared for his weekly address on National Public Radio, then-US President Ronald Reagan made his legendary voice check, when, instead of uttering the usual “testing,” declared: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

The recording of the joke, though not broadcast over the air as was the common misconception, was still smuggled to the outside world, provoking a general embarrassment worldwide.

The moment the president's flippant remark was released, it immediately caused a stir both in the United States and abroad. Most international media responded with outrage, fearing that the joke about "outlawing" the Soviet Union had once again put the two superpowers on the verge of a third world war.

The Legendary Route of Pony Express

Young and daring horseback riders once carried U.S. mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, from where it was then taken by steamer to San Francisco. The service began on April 3, 1860. Its promoters hoped to prove that the central route followed by the Pony Express was better than the longer southern route used by the stagecoaches of the Butterfield Overland Mail. Senator William M. Gwin of California was the chief promoter of the Pony Express, while the freight firm of William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors backed the project financially.

Romantic view of Pony Express

The Pony Express route followed the Oregon-California Trail, along the Platte River in Nebraska, through South Pass in Wyoming. At Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the riders left the trail, swung to the south of the Great Salt Lake, and then headed due west across the salt desert to the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Carson City, Nevada, and then across the Sierra Nevada into California and on to Sacramento. Relay stations stood 10 to 15 miles apart along the route.