1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean, on this day in 1898. U.S. troops under Gen. Nelson A. Miles were able to secure the island by mid-August and after the signing of an armistice with Spain, raised the American flag over the island, formalizing US authority over Puerto Rico’s 1 million inhabitants. In December, the Treaty of Paris officially approving the cession of Puerto Rico to the United States. In the first three decades of its rule, the U.S. government made efforts to Americanize its new possession, including granting full U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917. But during the 1930s, a nationalist movement led by the Popular Democratic Party won wide support across the island, and further U.S. assimilation was successfully opposed. Beginning in 1948, Puerto Ricans could elect their own governor, and in 1952 the U.S. Congress approved a new Puerto Rican constitution that made the island an autonomous U.S. commonwealth, with its citizens retaining American citizenship. The constitution was formally adopted by Puerto Rico on July 25, 1952, the 54th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.
(History.com)
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