This Week in History

July 08, 2013 -- intro: America lost three legends this week: a war hero president, a founding father, and a space program that defined an age. Meanwhile, a young politician and an even younger teacher defended, respectively, the power of a gender and the power of an idea. Here's what happened this week in history:

quicklist:1title:July 8text:2011:Final Space Shuttle Mission Launches

Two years ago this Monday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched in the final voyage of the 30-year U.S. Space Shuttle program.

Astronauts Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus, and Rex Walheim rode on the last mission of the program—the 135th space shuttle flight and the 33rd Atlantis flight—to deliver "the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module into space, as well as a bunch of spare parts."

The flight was delayed until the last second by inclement weather but departed on time at 11:26 a.m. EST, Friday, July 8, 2011.

Just before launch, the shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said to the four astronauts, "Good luck to you and your crew on the final flight of this true American icon. Good luck, God speed and have a little fun up there."

On June 29, the Kennedy Space Center opened a new exhibit that allows the public to view the Atlantis shuttle, tilted at an angle of 43.21 degrees--"as in 4-3-2-1, liftoff."

media:19605558

quicklist:2title:July 9text:1850: President Zachary Taylor Dies, Millard Fillmore Assumes Presidency

On the night of July 9, 1850, U.S. President Zachary Taylor died and left his position to then Vice President Millard Fillmore, who was sworn in as the 13th president the following day.

The cause of Taylor's death is still disputed. Most argue that he contracted cholera from a glass of water or iced milk during the swelteringly hot Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C.

Taylor, or "Old Rough and Ready" as he was known served in the Mexican War as a general and won important battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista.

His military days made him ardently nationalistic. Combined with his opposition to slavery, Taylor's nationalism led him to swear that he would personally lead the U.S. Army into any state attempting to secede from the Union.

President Fillmore chose not to continue his predecessor's strict anti-secession stance and instead advocated and then signed the Compromise of 1850 in an attempt to hold off the Civil War for a few more years.

media:19605408

quicklist:3title:July 10text:1925: "Monkey Trial" Begins, Questioning Creationism

All John Thomas Scopes did as a young high school teacher was teach evolution to his students, and he was put on trial for doing it.

The famous "Monkey Trial," as it was nicknamed, began July 10 and brought the debate between creationism and evolution to the national stage when Scopes violated a 1925 Tennessee law which made it a misdemeanor to "teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible…"

Scopes, who had purposefully taught the material planning to get charged, enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union to take up his case to make a public statement about the ridiculousness of the law.

Vaulting the case into the national spotlight, three-time Democratic presidential candidate and creationist hero William Jennings Bryan joined the prosecution team.