 FEBRUARY 6, 1935 - The popular board game MonopolyŽ went on sale for the first time. Originally sold by Charles Darrow, and later by Parker Brothers, MonopolyŽ is the most commercially-successful board game in United States history. More than 275 million games have been sold worldwide and it is available in 111 countries and 43 languages. The names of the spaces on the game board change depending on where you live. For example, in the U.S. the highest rent property is named "Boardwalk" after a street in Atlantic City. But in Spain it is named "Paseo del Prado" after a street in Barcelona and in France, "Rue de la Paix" is the name of the most coveted property space. And in case you were wondering, the character locked behind the bars is called Jake the Jailbird, and he was sent there by Officer Edgar Mallory. |
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Follow Me Boys
 FEBRUARY 8, 1910 - The Boy Scouts of America were first incorporated by William D. Boyce. Based on the British organization founded by Lord Baden Powell, the goal of the BSA is to train youth in responsible citizenship, character development, and self-reliance. The Boy Scouts are one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with 2.7 million youth members and over 1 million adult volunteers. More than 110 million Americans have been members of the BSA since its founding. John F. Kennedy was the first Boy Scout to become President of the United States, and Gerald Ford was the first, and so far only, U.S. President who attained the BSA's highest rank of Eagle Scout in his youth.
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FEBRUARY 8, 1993 - General Motors filed a lawsuit for libel after NBC's Dateline program aired a feature on GM on November 17, 1992, entitled "Waiting to Explode." The Dateline story included video footage of a test demonstrating that fuel tanks on GM pickup trucks built from 1973-1987 were prone to catch fire in side impact collisions. In reality the tests were rigged as NBC had placed incendiary devices inside the truck to ensure that the fuel tank would explode. At a packed news conference inside General Motors' Product Exhibit Hall, GM's executive vice president Harry Pearce conducted a detailed rebuttal of NBC's story, including frame-by-frame photos from NBC's footage that clearly showed smoke from the incendiary devices going off just before the collision. The following evening, during a live broadcast, Dateline anchors Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips read a 3 minute 30 second, on-air apology and retraction. It was the first time any television network had ever issued such an apology on the air. GM dropped the lawsuit the next day.
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"We must depend upon the Boy Scout Movement to produce the men of the future."
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