President Reagan fired 11,000 striking air traffic controllers

On August 5, 1981, under orders from President Reagan, the federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone on strike two days previous for better pay, hours and working conditions.

Learn more about the PATCO air traffic control strike. Listen to an excerpt of an August 3, 1981 speech by President Reagan (courtesy of the History Channel) emphasizing that the controllers had taken an oath not to strike against the government and threatening to terminate their jobs if they did not report for duty in 48 hours.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).