Jennifer's 20th Century History Blog

I've read books about Helen Keller and heard about her amazing story all my life and yet until this video, I had never seen her talk. In this three-minute video, Anne Sullivan explains how she first taught Helen to speak, all while having Helen's hand cover her face. Truly amazing. Take three minutes to watch this incredible video of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan.

P.S. If you want to know more about Helen's story, check out this biography of Helen Keller.

During World War II, the United States and Nazi Germany were in a race to be the first to develop and build an atomic weapon. The U.S. put $6 billion and many of the greatest scientific minds of the day into developing the bomb, in an expansive project called the Manhattan Project. Find out how this all got started.

On May 29, 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay became the very first people to reach the top of Mt. Everest. Find out how they were successful and the challenges they faced in becoming the first to successfully climb Mt. Everest.

The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York, is the lucky recipient of a number of well-loved Muppets characters and historical items. Over 400 items are being donated by Jim Henson's family and will be displayed in a new, 2,200 square-foot gallery.

Among the 400 items are 200 puppets (which include Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Bert and Ernie, and Elmo), costumes, behind-the-scenes footage, and props from some of Henson's most memorable works.

The exhibit is expected to officially open near the end of 2014.

Dictator of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, Jorge Rafael Videla presided over the "Dirty War," in which an estimated 20,000 civilians were secretly captured, tortured, and murdered in an attempt to curb communism.

Among the horrible acts committed by Videla's regime was the capture of pregnant women; the mothers were allowed to have their babies and then were killed (sometimes by being dropped naked out of an airplane), while the newborns were then given to Christian Argentinian families to be raised with a new identity.

Videla was tried in 1985 and convicted of human rights abuses. Although he was sentenced to life in prison, he was pardoned in 1990. In 1998, he was charged with kidnapping and then later with more human rights abuses. Jorge Rafael Videla died on Friday, May 17, 2013 at age 87 while serving a life sentence at the Marcos Paz Prison in Buenos Aires.

Recently, over 200 private pictures of the Romanovs were found in a vault in the small, local Zlatoust Museum in the Urals. This is a very rare find as it shows the Romanovs, the last Russian czar and his family, enjoying their last carefree moments in the years proceeding their murder.

The Siberian Times has posted a handful of the pictures, including one of Czar Nicholas II taking an elephant for a walk, young Anastasia smoking a cigarette, and little Alexei sitting in a tree with his favorite dog.

Whether you hated her or loved her, Margaret Thatcher made history when she became the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, serving three terms from 1979 to 1990. Yet there was more to Margaret Thatcher than this one major accomplishment. Find out why she was called "the Iron Lady," read about the assassination attempt that nearly took her life, learn about her husband and twin children, and much more in this short biography of Margaret Thatcher.

"I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights!" -- Quote by U.S. President Warren Harding

For More: History Quotes, Biography of Warren Harding

Although he was quiet and shy, Joe DiMaggio could hit and field a baseball so easily that he almost look lazy out there on the field. Best known for his hitting streak of 56 straight games in 1941 (a record still unbroken), DiMaggio made additional headlines with his tumultuous marriage and divorce of starlet Marilyn Monroe. Learn more about Joe DiMaggio, one of the best baseball players of all time.

Since many historians consider Warren G. Harding to be one of America's worst presidents, one would think he would be boring -- not so. He was a genial guy, but his extramarital affairs tarnished his reputation and the scandals made by members of his Cabinet pretty much ruined any hope Harding had of leaving a positive mark on history. Oh, and he died mysteriously while in office. Learn more about this oft-forgotten U.S. President.