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TIL after William Jennings Bryan finished his Cross of Gold speech, the audience was completely silent. Bryan said that it was "really painful" and that he thought he had failed, but when he returned to his seat the entire audience went into pandemonium and it took 25 minutes to restore order.

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49xg TIL Despite being a Major General, 56, and needing a cane to walk, Theodore Roosevelt Jr was one of the first troops to land at Utah Beach, personally doing a recon mission and directing units onto their objectives under fire. He was both the oldest and highest ranking man to land with first wave.
xVn45 TIL that the term 'robber baron', applied to certain ruthless wealthy American businessmen of late 19th century, is derived from the German term 'Raubritter' which referred to the medieval German knights who charged illegal tolls on the roads crossing their lands.
X05Z6 TIL in 1954, father of the hydrogen bomb Edward Teller presented Sundial, a conceptual hydrogen bomb with a yield of 10 gigatons. Under the right conditions, this would start fires as far as 250 miles, an area the size of France. Work continued for several years after, with a test planned for 1956.
pYRWO TIL the episode "It's Late" from the TV show "Degrassi Junior High" in 1987, which was about a teen who became pregnant, was withheld from regular broadcast by the BBC in the UK. The episode later won an International Emmy award and the teen's baby was named Emma on the show in honor of the award.
b67EQ TIL: Only two companies have a higher credit rating than the US Government, Microsoft and Johnson&Johnson