Fun Facts for the Fourth
Happy birthday America! Today is the 236th birthday of the U.S.A. In actuality, July 4, 1776 was the day on which the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress.
Interestingly enough, it took awhile for the nation to celebrate the landmark event.The first real 4th of July party was held at the White House in 1801 and the day was not officially declared a national holiday until 1941. Since then, we have been partying hard. An estimated 68.3 million cases of beer are sold on Independence Day around the country, making it the biggest beer-selling day of the year.. Last July 4th approximately 78 million Americans had barbecues, consuming, among other things, about 155 million hot dogs.(In today's annual Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, Joey Chestnut downed 68 hot dogs in ten minutes to win for the sixth consecutive year.) $211 million has been spent importing fireworks to the United States from China. More Americans are celebrating than ever. In 1776 there were 2.5 million people living in the newly independent country. On this July Fourth there are an estimated 313.9 Americans.
Only on United States president was born on the Fourth of July: Calvin Coolidge in 1872. Three presidents died on the Fourth: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both, coincidentally, in 1826 and James Monroe in 1831.
Following are some famous Fourth of July birthdays:
1776-United States of America.
1810- P.T. Barnum, circus magnate.
1826-Stephen Foster, song writer (Oh, Susanna, Swanee River)
1872-Calvin Coolidge
1900- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
1902-Meyer Lansky, gangster.
1927-Neil Simon
1930-George M. Steinbrenner, owner of the NY Yankees.
1938-Bill Withers, R&B singer (Lean on Me).
1943-Al "Blind Owl" Wilson, guitarist/singer (Canned Heat)
1943-Dave Rowberry, rock musician (The Animals)
1998-Malia Obama.
For the baseball fans: There have been three July 4 no-hitters:
in 1908 Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants no-hit the Phillies 1-0.
In 1912 George Mullin of the Detroit Tigers no-hit the St.Louis Browns 7-0.
In 1983 Dave Righetti of the New York Yankees no-hit the hated Boston Red Sox 4-0 (I was at that game).
One more sad and hard to believe fact: in a 2010 Marist poll, only 74 percent of respondents knew the country from which we won our Independence. 20% were unsure and six per cent named countries other than England.
Happy Independence Day! Party hearty but safely.
Interestingly enough, it took awhile for the nation to celebrate the landmark event.The first real 4th of July party was held at the White House in 1801 and the day was not officially declared a national holiday until 1941. Since then, we have been partying hard. An estimated 68.3 million cases of beer are sold on Independence Day around the country, making it the biggest beer-selling day of the year.. Last July 4th approximately 78 million Americans had barbecues, consuming, among other things, about 155 million hot dogs.(In today's annual Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, Joey Chestnut downed 68 hot dogs in ten minutes to win for the sixth consecutive year.) $211 million has been spent importing fireworks to the United States from China. More Americans are celebrating than ever. In 1776 there were 2.5 million people living in the newly independent country. On this July Fourth there are an estimated 313.9 Americans.
Only on United States president was born on the Fourth of July: Calvin Coolidge in 1872. Three presidents died on the Fourth: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both, coincidentally, in 1826 and James Monroe in 1831.
Following are some famous Fourth of July birthdays:
1776-United States of America.
1810- P.T. Barnum, circus magnate.
1826-Stephen Foster, song writer (Oh, Susanna, Swanee River)
1872-Calvin Coolidge
1900- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
1902-Meyer Lansky, gangster.
1927-Neil Simon
1930-George M. Steinbrenner, owner of the NY Yankees.
1938-Bill Withers, R&B singer (Lean on Me).
1943-Al "Blind Owl" Wilson, guitarist/singer (Canned Heat)
1943-Dave Rowberry, rock musician (The Animals)
1998-Malia Obama.
For the baseball fans: There have been three July 4 no-hitters:
in 1908 Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants no-hit the Phillies 1-0.
In 1912 George Mullin of the Detroit Tigers no-hit the St.Louis Browns 7-0.
In 1983 Dave Righetti of the New York Yankees no-hit the hated Boston Red Sox 4-0 (I was at that game).
One more sad and hard to believe fact: in a 2010 Marist poll, only 74 percent of respondents knew the country from which we won our Independence. 20% were unsure and six per cent named countries other than England.
Happy Independence Day! Party hearty but safely.
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by
Richard
(new)
Jul 04, 2012 05:34PM
Check your math. It's the 236th birthday of the US of A. NPR has a wonderful reading of the Declaration of Independence in its entirety, about 8 minutes. Capozzi
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