Today in History

• 1997 South Park Makes its Debut on Comedy Central

  The popular American animated series is created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and it follows the lives and adventures of 4 boys – Eric Cartman, Kenny McCormick, Kyle Broflovski, and Stan Marsh – in a fictional town called South Park, Colorado. While being popular, the show has attracted widespread criticism for profane language and for addressing controversial subjects.

• 1961 Construction of Berlin Wall starts

  The construction on the Berlin Wall, a wall that divided West Berlin from East Berlin started. It was built by the German Democratic Republic or East Germany.

• 1960 First Two-Way Telephonic Conversation With a Satellite

  The conversation was made possible due to NASA’s Echo 1, a balloon satellite. It was launched into space on August 12. The satellite worked as reflector – signals sent to it were reflected back to the Earth.

• 1960 Central African Republic Gains its Independence From France.

  The landlocked African Country came under French rule in the late 19th century. On this day, Barthélemy Boganda, a nationalist politician declared the creation of an independent Central African Republic and became the first Prime Minister of the country.

• 1918 First Woman enlists in the United States Marines

  After joining the Marine corps, Opha May Johnson, was assigned desk duty at the Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.