On the final day of John Tyler's presidency, a broad coalition overrode his veto on a minor bill related to customs enforcement -- the first time congress ever overrode a presidential veto.
Before she became Vice President, Kamala Harris was the first South Asian-American woman elected to the Senate
Robert Smalls, born enslaved in South Carolina, stole the CSS Planter and delivered it to Union troops. After the Civil War, Smalls was elected to the South Carolina legislature and later to the U.S. Congress where he served 5 terms during and after Reconstruction.
After reports that the USS Maddox had been attacked by North Vietnamese naval vessels, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 422-1 to authorize military action in Vietnam. Eugene Siler was the loan 'Nay' vote.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting by protecting voting rights. It banned poll taxes and literacy tests and required states with historians of Jim Crow discrimination to seek advance clearance before changing and requiring states with histories of Jim Crow discrimination to obtain advance clearance to change laws governing voting.
