Today, Jan. 7, is a pretty interesting day in world history. There are a few things that happened on Jan. 7 in the past that I think are worth some time to talk about.

First off, 228 years ago on Jan. 7, 1789, the newly formed Untied States of America held the first presidential election. Everyone knows who won, but the day it happened on is forgotten. This is the anniversary of the thing that set America apart from the other nations of the world immediately. An elected leader in those times was unheard of, and it happened on this day.

Second, on Jan. 7, 1959, the United States government recognized a new government in Cuba. Again, everyone knows the events following this: the missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs disaster and the hoarding of good cigars by JFK.  What’s interesting about this though is that most people don’t know that the US wanted good relations with Castro right off the bat, but that fell apart pretty quickly, but that’s just an interesting thing to me because of what we’ve been taught about the late dictator.

Third, on Jan. 7, 1999, Bill Clinton’s senate impeachment trial began, making him the first to actually be impeached since Andrew Jackson. For those who will read this and think I’m wrong and bring up Nixon, he quit before they impeached him. This is not an impeachment for what most people think though, it’s because of some less than proper real-estate deals in Arkansas that had ties to Clinton, and other various things, the investigation just led to the discovery of the Monica Lewinsky incident.

Fourth, and on a lighter topic, Jan. 7, 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters took the court for the first time. To the surprise of many, they are not from Harlem. The team is from Chicago, but in order to draw attention to the racial diversity on the team, the owner named them after a predominantly African-American neighborhood. I love basketball and I’ve seen the Globetrotters. This is just awesome to me.