CalendarZ

  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. May
  4. 10
  5. James Gordon Bennett, Jr.

Births on May 10

James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
1841May, 10

James Gordon Bennett, Jr.

James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster, co-founded Commercial Cable Company (d. 1918)
James Gordon Bennett Jr. (May 10, 1841 – May 14, 1918) was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father. Among his many sports-related accomplishments he organized both the first polo match and the first tennis match in the United States, and he personally won the first trans-oceanic yacht race. He sponsored explorers including Henry Morton Stanley's trip to Africa to find David Livingstone, and the ill-fated USS Jeannette attempt on the North Pole.

Bennett's controversial reputation is thought to be the inspiration behind the phrase "Gordon Bennett!", used as an expression of incredulity.

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1841

  • 9Mar

    United States v. The Amistad

    The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
  • 16Aug

    Second Bank of the United States

    U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
  • 24Sep

    Kingdom of Sarawak

    The Sultanate of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom.
  • 13Nov

    Hypnotism

    James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism.