Encyclopædia Britannica notes that on this day in the year 1958, Pres. Ike signed the legislation that created the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Sure, it more or less existed before that as a defense group but now we were going to beat the Russians publicly.
Darn that Sputnik!
Just to show that these messages from EB are almost always odd, the birthday for today is for Il Duce, 20th century Europe's first fascist dictator, having "assumed" absolute power of Italy in 1922. American conservatives loved the little fascist. Really. Hearst ran adoring editorials on Mussolini, even cartoons extolling his virtues by the masterful Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland). "Mussolini rose up from nothing to be master of his destiny! You can, too!"
And, of course, NASA was staffed by unrepentant Nazis.
So it goes.
