Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NHThe House finished overriding President Nixon’s veto of the water pollution bill on October 18, 1972. The same date holds the burning of Falmouth in 1775, with a threat aimed at Portsmouth, and the flag change at Sitka that made Alaska American in 1867.
Audio edition (7:17): a synthetic voice reads the article. The images, fact check and sources are on this page.
October 18 is a date about public power and public money. A Congress overrode a president over the price of clean rivers. A Royal Navy officer burned a New England seaport and, by one witness’s account, named Portsmouth as his next stop. A $7.2 million purchase ended with a flag change on a hill in Sitka. Here are five entries from the record, each tied to a document you can read yourself.
October 18, 1972
The House finished the override, and the Clean Water Act became law
On October 18, 1972, the House of Representatives voted 247 to 23 to override President Richard Nixon’s veto of S. 2770, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The bill became Public Law 92-500, and the printed statute carries that date. The Environmental Protection Agency says the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act as amended in 1972.
Nixon’s veto message, dated October 17, praised the bill’s intent and objected to its cost. He wrote that its “laudable intent is outweighed by its unconscionable $24 billion price tag.” He said his own proposal would have committed $6 billion in federal money over three years, and he objected to raising the federal share of the cost of future facilities from 55 percent to 75 percent.
The law opens by stating its objective: to restore and maintain the “chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” It declared a national goal of eliminating the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985. Section 207 authorized up to $5 billion for fiscal 1973, $6 billion for fiscal 1974 and $7 billion for fiscal 1975 for Title II, other than sections 208 and 209. The EPA says the 1972 amendments funded sewage treatment plants under a construction grants program. The EPA also credits the 1972 amendments with making it unlawful to discharge a pollutant from a point source into navigable waters without a permit.
New Hampshire’s delegation left a split record. The Senate’s official veto table lists its override on October 17, by 52 to 12. Voteview, the University of California, Los Angeles roll-call database, records Democratic Sen. Thomas McIntyre voting to override and Republican Sen. Norris Cotton voting no. On the House vote of October 18, Voteview lists both of the state’s representatives, Republicans Louis Wyman and James Cleveland, as not voting.
October 18, 1775
A Royal Navy officer burned Falmouth, and a witness said Portsmouth was next
On the morning of October 18, 1775, armed vessels under Lt. Henry Mowat of the Royal Navy opened fire on Falmouth, the town now called Portland, Maine. A deposition by Pearson Jones, sent to George Washington and published in the Washington Papers on the National Archives’ Founders Online site, says the firing set several houses ablaze within five minutes and went on until after dark, destroying the largest part of the town. Jones said Mowat had demanded four carriage guns, all the town’s small arms and ammunition, and four gentlemen of the town as hostages. The town would not do it.
The New Hampshire thread runs through the same file. Jones said Mowat told the Falmouth committee he would proceed to Portsmouth and destroy that place also. On October 19, the Portsmouth Committee of Safety, its letter signed by chairman H. Wentworth, wrote to Washington reporting the arrival of Mowat’s armed ship, which the letter calls the Canso, and heavy firing heard all day. The two accounts differ by half an hour on when the guns began; Portsmouth said nine o’clock, Jones said about half past nine.
October 18, 1867
A flag came down at Sitka, and Alaska passed to the United States
On the afternoon of October 18, 1867, in front of the governor’s house on Castle Hill in Sitka, the Russian flag was lowered and the American flag raised. The National Park Service records that Brig. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau represented the United States and Alexei Pestchouroff represented the tsar, with American and Russian troops drawn up on the parapet.
The paperwork came first. The State Department’s Office of the Historian says Secretary of State William Seward agreed on March 30, 1867, to buy Alaska for $7.2 million; the Senate approved the treaty on April 9 and President Andrew Johnson signed it on May 28. The National Archives holds the Treasury warrant for the payment in its records of the Treasury’s accounting officers. The Office of the Historian adds that for years afterward Alaska ran under military, naval or Treasury rule, got a civil government in 1884 and became a state on January 3, 1959.
October 18, 1898
U.S. troops raised the flag over Puerto Rico before the treaty was signed
The Library of Congress records that U.S. troops raised the American flag in Puerto Rico on October 18, 1898, formalizing U.S. control of the island. The order of events matters. Gen. Nelson A. Miles had landed about 3,500 troops on July 25, an armistice followed on August 12, and the flag went up on October 18. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War, was not signed until December 10, 1898. The Library’s account adds that Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens in 1917.
October 18, 1931
Thomas Edison died. His first patent was a legislative vote recorder
Thomas Edison died on October 18, 1931. The National Park Service’s brochure for Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey, credits him with 1,093 U.S. patents and says lights were dimmed nationwide for one minute on the day of his funeral. The same brochure lists his first patent, awarded in 1869, as a legislative vote recorder. The brochure’s entry for that year adds that he decided to become a full-time inventor. The brochure suggests his greatest invention may have been the industrial research and development laboratory.
Three of these five entries turn on who pays and who decides. The documents are linked below.
Your Turn
Tell us: Does your family or town hold a letter, ledger or photograph tied to any of these events, from the Portsmouth alarm of 1775 to the sewage plants the 1972 law paid for? Write to granitestatereport@gmail.com or leave a comment.
Fact check
| # | Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The House voted 247-23 on October 18, 1972, to override the veto of S. 2770. | VERIFIED | U.S. Senate, Vetoes by President Richard Nixon (table); Voteview, House roll call 648, 92nd Congress |
| 2 | S. 2770 became Public Law 92-500, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, dated October 18, 1972. | VERIFIED | 86 Stat. 816 (GovInfo) |
| 3 | The law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. | VERIFIED | EPA, History of the Clean Water Act |
| 4 | Nixon’s veto message is dated October 17, 1972, cites a $24 billion price tag and says his proposal would have committed $6 billion over three years. | VERIFIED | American Presidency Project, Veto of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 |
| 5 | The bill raised the federal share of future facilities from 55 to 75 percent. | ATTRIBUTED | Nixon veto message (the president’s description of the bill) |
| 6 | Statutory objective, 1985 discharge goal and Section 207 authorizations of $5B, $6B and $7B for fiscal 1973-75 (Title II, other than sections 208 and 209). | VERIFIED | 86 Stat. 816, Sections 101 and 207 |
| 7 | The 1972 amendments funded sewage treatment plant construction and required permits for point-source discharges. | VERIFIED | EPA, History of the Clean Water Act |
| 8 | Senate override October 17, 1972, 52-12; McIntyre yea, Cotton nay; Wyman and Cleveland not voting on the House override. | VERIFIED | U.S. Senate veto table; Voteview roll calls S955 and H648, member records |
| 9 | Mowat’s vessels fired on Falmouth on October 18, 1775, from morning until after dark, destroying the largest part of the town, after the town refused his demands. | VERIFIED | Deposition of Pearson Jones, 24 Oct. 1775, Founders Online (National Archives); Maine Memory Network item 1283 confirms the date and Mowat’s ship |
| 10 | Mowat said he would proceed to Portsmouth and destroy it. | ATTRIBUTED | Deposition of Pearson Jones (Jones’s account of what Mowat told the Falmouth committee) |
| 11 | The Portsmouth Committee of Safety, chairman H. Wentworth, wrote Washington on October 19, 1775, reporting Mowat’s armed ship (the letter spells it Canso; the Founders Online editors identify it as the Canceaux) and the firing. | VERIFIED | Portsmouth Committee of Safety to George Washington, 19 Oct. 1775, Founders Online |
| 12 | Flag change at Sitka on the afternoon of October 18, 1867; Rousseau and Pestchouroff. | VERIFIED | National Park Service, American Flag Raising Site |
| 13 | $7.2 million price; March 30, April 9 and May 28, 1867 dates; civil government 1884; statehood January 3, 1959. | VERIFIED | U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Purchase of Alaska, 1867; National Archives, Treasury Warrant for the Purchase of Alaska |
| 14 | U.S. troops raised the flag in Puerto Rico on October 18, 1898; Miles landing July 25; armistice August 12; Treaty of Paris December 10. | VERIFIED | Library of Congress, Today in History, October 18 |
| 15 | Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens in 1917. | ATTRIBUTED | Library of Congress, Today in History, October 18 |
| 16 | Edison died October 18, 1931; 1,093 U.S. patents; first patent 1869 for a legislative vote recorder; lights dimmed on the day of his funeral. | VERIFIED | National Park Service, Thomas Edison National Historical Park brochure |
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Primary and official records: Public Law 92-500, 86 Stat. 816 (GovInfo); U.S. Senate, Vetoes by President Richard Nixon; Nixon, veto message of October 17, 1972 (American Presidency Project); Voteview roll calls House 648 and Senate 955, 92nd Congress; EPA, History of the Clean Water Act; Deposition of Pearson Jones, 24 October 1775 and Portsmouth Committee of Safety to George Washington, 19 October 1775 (Founders Online, National Archives); Maine Historical Society, Letter describing burning of Falmouth, 1775; National Park Service, American Flag Raising Site; Office of the Historian, Purchase of Alaska, 1867; National Archives, Treasury Warrant for the Purchase of Alaska; Library of Congress, Today in History, October 18; National Park Service, Thomas Edison National Historical Park brochure (archived copy).
Related GSR coverage: October 17 in U.S. History: Saratoga and the New Hampshire regiments; SB 468, a New Hampshire law enacted over a governor’s veto.
Editor’s note. This edition draws on the enrolled statute at GovInfo, the U.S. Senate’s veto table, the American Presidency Project, Voteview, the EPA, the Papers of George Washington on Founders Online, the Maine Historical Society, the National Park Service, the State Department’s Office of the Historian, the National Archives and the Library of Congress. One date conflict: the Senate’s attestation printed in the enrolled act reads “October 18 (legislative day, October 17), 1972,” while the Senate veto table and Voteview date the Senate override October 17. This edition follows the Senate’s own table for the vote and the statute for the enactment date. Figures are engravings from the Library of Congress, which lists no known restrictions on publication.
Corrections: Granite State Report corrects verified errors promptly and appends a dated note identifying what changed and when. The corrections policy and the corrections register are public, and correction notes are never removed.
