May 20, 1904
President Theodore Roosevelt, eager to wave his “big stick” before the Republican National Convention met in June, ordered seven warships to Tangier, Morocco, to rescue a wealthy former resident of Trenton, NJ, who was being held for ransom by “the last of the Barbary Pirates.” Morocco was the last independent nation in northern Africa; the incident began a scramble among the European powers to gain control over the country. Roosevelt ended up agreeing to all of the kidnapper’s demands.
May 20, 1961
With the local police looking on, 300 white segregationists attacked a busload of both black and white “Freedom Riders” in Montgomery, Alabama’s bus depot. Among those beaten was Justice Department official John Seigenthaler who had tried to negotiate their safety. Media attention pushed Attorney General Robert Kennedy to send in U.S. Marshals to protect the Riders, who had been seeking to guarantee equal access to interstate transportation by riding the bus.
