#bushlibrary

“CASSIUS CLAY REFUSES OATH”1967, Universal Pictures.

#OTD 1978: ALI BEATS SPINX! Wins world heavyweight championship

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

‘’Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on other innocent brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?’’ -Muhammad Ali.

#OTD 1978, boxer Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome, winning the world heavyweight boxing title for an unprecedented 3rd time.

Explore our records to discover how Ali fought inside and outside the boxing ring: as a Civil Rights activist, a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, and a humanitarian; from accused draft dodger -- stripped of his title, banned from boxing and sentenced to prison -- to Presidential Medal of Freedom winner.

Muhammad Ali with President Ford, 12/10/1974. NARA ID 45644181.

Jordan's King Hussein and President Ford greet Ali, 3/30/1976, NARA ID 7840017.

Boxing gloves inscribed to Senator Ed Kennedy from "Your friend Muhammad Ali 7-8-88" online here. Courtesy of Mrs. Edward M. Kennedy, JFK Library and Museum.

President Reagan "Punching" Ali in The Oval Office, 1/24/1983, NARA ID 75852623.

Ali with President Clinton, 10/28/2000, NARA ID 5899875.

Ali received Presidential Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush, 11/9/2005, NARA ID 7431423.

More online:

Mohammad Ali's Fight for Justice 1967, Records of Rights

Tribute to “The Greatest”, Rediscovering Black History

African American History - Muhammad Ali

See State Department reports on the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle Part I & Part II by archivist David Langbart, The Text Message

Ali's Criminal Case Files, 1908-1973, NARA ID 563137.

Related Ali Case Files 1967-1969, NARA ID 22930205.

Ali Draft Evasion Court Case, NARA ID 5604069

Supreme Court Justice Nominee Sonia Sotomayor with White House staff, 6/24/2009. Photo by Johnny Simon, Obama Library, NARA ID 193688406).

President Obama with Judge Sotomayor and (then) VP Joe Biden, 5/26/2009, Obama Library, NARA ID 157649742.

President Obama Greets Justice Sotomayor 9/8/2009, image by Pete Souza, Obama Library, NARA ID 118817965.

Celina Sotomayor Cries During President Obama's Nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, 5/26/2009, NARA ID 157649740.

President Obama and VP Biden with an ecstatic Judge Sotomayor, 5/26/2009, Obama Library, NARA ID 157649732.

We celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth with a shout out to Sonia Sotomayor!

1st Hispanic Supreme Court justice

3rd female Supreme Court justice (after RBG & Sandra Day O'Connor).

1st Hispanic federal judge in New York State

1st Puerto Rican woman to serve as a judge in a U.S. federal court

"Through reading, I escaped the bad parts of my life in the South Bronx. And, through books, I got to travel the world and the universe. It, to me, was a passport out of my childhood and it remains a way — through the power of words — to change the world."---Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor's parents were born in Puerto Rico, but she was born and raised in the Bronx. After Princeton undergrad and Yale Law School, she worked as an assistant DA for New York County. In 1991, President Bush (41) nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY.

Sotomayor: "the judge who saved baseball." As a district court judge, Sotomayor ruled in Silverman v. Major League Baseball (MLB) Player Relations Committee, Inc. that the MLB could not enact a new collective bargaining agreement and use replacement players, thereby ending the 1994 baseball strike and ensuring the 1995 season began on time.

As a nod to her background, Sotomayor warned lawyers during the preparatory phase of the case, “I hope none of you assumed…that my lack of knowledge of any intimate details of your dispute meant I was not a baseball fan. You can’t grow up in the South Bronx without knowing about baseball."

President Obama meets with Judge Sotomayor in the Oval Office, 5/21/2009. Clinton Library photo by Pete Souza, NARA ID 176548508.

On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. She was sworn in on August 8, 2009.

See our many Hispanic Heritage Month resources.

From the Bronx to the Bench: Sonia Sotomayor’s Trailblazing Journey to the Supreme Court, by Lynn Nashorn, archivist, Text Message blog.

Materials Relating to Sonia Sotomayor Released, Press release, 7/8/2009.

List of records re: Judge Sonia Sotomayor (includes records from the Clinton and Bush (41) Libraries.

#OTD 2008- Last Game Played @ Historic NY Yankee Stadium

To mark this date, we share a variety of NY Yankees-related records.

YANKEE FAN IN SPACE!

STS-132 Mission Specialist/Yankees fan Garrett Reisman on the end of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, Expedition 23, 5/17/2010. NARA ID 23602397.

9/11: World Series & A President’s Pitch

George W. Bush said nothing to the crowd the night he took the mound at Yankee Stadium [on October 30, 2001], only a few miles from where he had shouted through a bullhorn to people digging through the wreckage of the World Trade Center less than two months earlier.

Wearing a bulletproof vest, the president flashed a thumbs-up to the crowd, then threw a perfect strike before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a signal to the country that the healing could begin.

“It was so moving, so powerful, that it lifted our nation,” sportscaster Jim Gray said Sunday night at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. “What President Bush told us without uttering a single word, was that we could once again attempt to carry on our lives. … What an amazing symbol it was.” Dallas Morning News.

President Bush (43) arrives at Yankee Stadium on Marine One, NARA ID 5997392.

President Bush (43) throws the first pitch 10/30/2001.

YOGI BERRA PROMOTES WAR BONDS!

Treasury Dep't. poster with Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, 1951. NARA ID 23889731.

BABE AND THE IRON HORSE

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig pose together on a visit to West Point, 5/6//1927.

HOOVER AND JOE DIMAGGIO!

Former president Hoover with Joe DiMaggio, 8/8/1959.

More baseball records online:

Special Topics page: Baseball at the National Archives

eBook: Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives

Senator JFK's remarks at Yankee Stadium, 4/29/1956.

10 Football Facts Featuring U.S. Presidents, Pieces of History.

9/11: The World Series and a President’s pitch, Pieces of History

Play Ball, Mr. President! Pieces of History

Lou Gehrig’s Final Season in the News, Unwritten Record.

BABE RUTH WITH PRESIDENT BUSH (41)! Surprising but true! Future President and Yale baseball team captain George H.W. Bush with Babe Ruth, Yale Field, New Haven, CT, 1948. Shortly before his death from cancer, Ruth donated the original manuscript of his autobiography to Yale. George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. NARA ID 186375.

Occupation? Baseball! Babe Ruth's WWI Draft Registration, Records of the Selective Service, National Archives at Atlanta. His number was never called in WWI, but Ruth did serve his country years later, enlisting in the 104th Field Artillery Division of the NY Army National Guard before a huge crowd in Times Square.

#OTD 1935, Babe Ruth hit homer #714!

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Babe Ruth sliding into 3rd base, undated USIA image, NARA ID 7829382.

Sports celebrities gathered for WWII "Stars for Victory" Bond Drive, 2/13/1944. NARA ID 596343.

More baseball records online:

HAMMERIN’ HANK BREAKS RUTH’S RECORD #OTD 1974

JACKIE ROBINSON BROKE COLOR BARRIER #OTD 1947

Teaching with Documents, Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate

Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate

Prologue Magazine story: Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson

Pieces of History blog post: Jackie Robinson’s 100th

Teaching Activities on DocsTeach: Analyzing Jackie Robinson’s White House Letter, Analyzing a Photograph of Jackie Robinson, Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: “Fair Play and Justice”

Special Topics page: Baseball at the National Archives

eBook: Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives