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19th Amendment ratified thanks to one vote

Year: 1920

Month Day: August 18

A dramatic battle in the Tennessee House of Representatives ends with the state ratifying the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution on August 18, 1920. After decades of struggle and protest by suffragettes across the country, the decisive vote is cast by a 24-year-old representative who reputedly changed his vote after receiving a note from his mother.

America’s suffrage movement was founded in the mid 19th century by women who had become politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 200 woman suffragists, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women’s rights. After approving measures asserting the right of women to educational and employment opportunities, they passed a resolution that declared “it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.”

For proclaiming a woman’s right to vote, the Seneca Falls Convention was subjected to public ridicule, and some backers of women’s rights withdrew their support. However, the resolution marked the beginning of the woman suffrage movement in America.

When Carrie Chapman Catt took over from Anthony as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900, she prioritized the push for a constitutional amendment to give women the vote. At the outset of World War I, NAWSA urged women to prove their worth to the war effort while the National Women’s Party, led by Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, engaged in civil disobedience, directly targeting President Woodrow Wilson with protests outside the White House.

Finally, facing growing pressure on multiple fronts, Wilson called a special session of congress in May of 1919 and personally appealed for women’s suffrage. Having voted down the amendment six times, Congress finally approved it, sending it to the states for ratification.

By March of 1920, just one more state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment in order for it to become law. The Tennessee General Assembly took up the question in August, and suffragists and anti-suffragists bore down on Nashville. The State Senate voted convincingly to ratify, but the House failed to do so twice, by two votes of 48 to 48. State Rep. Harry T. Burn, a 24-year-old from McMinn County, was one of the “nay” votes. Reportedly, he had intended to vote for ratification but had been persuaded not to by telegrams from his constituents and members of his party.

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Just as a third vote was set to begin, Burn received a letter from his mother, Febb Ensminger Burn, that read, in part, “Hurrah and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt … I’ve been watching to see how you stood but have not seen anything yet … Don’t forget to be a good boy.”

On the third vote, Burn changed his mind. Thanks to his single vote, the House approved the amendment, Tennessee ratified it, and the Constitution was changed to guarantee women the right to vote.

On August 26, the amendment was formally adopted into the Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

Despite the ratification of the amendment and the decades-long contributions of Black women to achieve suffrage, poll taxes, local laws and other restrictions continued to block women—and men—of color from voting. It would take more than 40 years for all women to achieve voting equality.

Women gather at the Woman Suffrage Headquarters located in Cleveland, Ohio, in September 1912. At extreme right is Miss Belle Sherwin, president of the National League of Women Voters.

” data-full-height=”1505″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NDQwNDM1/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-108217301.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc1900027ee” data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-108217301″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NDQwNDM1″ data-source-name=”Buyenlarge/Getty Images”>A group of suffragettes march in a parade carrying a banner reading, ‘I Wish Ma Could Vote,’ circa 1913.

” data-full-height=”1411″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwMzA5MDcwNTE1/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-2035233.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc1100026b3″ data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-2035233″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwMzA5MDcwNTE1″ data-source-name=”FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images”>Hanging paper sign claiming the success of women voting and showing the states in which the rights have been granted, 1914. By 1917, some four million women were already empowered to vote in state and local elections by their state constitutions.

” data-full-height=”1321″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTcxODIy/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-1155203572.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc2f00026b3″ data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-1155203572″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTcxODIy” data-source-name=”Buyenlarge/Getty Images”>American suffragette leader Harriot Stanton Blatch (1856-1940) voices her disapproval of anti-suffrage speaker Richard Barry outside New York City’s Lyceum Theatre, 1915.

” data-full-height=”1393″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwMzA5MjAxNTg3/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-3087725.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc0d00026b3″ data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-3087725″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwMzA5MjAxNTg3″ data-source-name=”Paul Thompson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images”>Women suffrage parade backing Woodrow Wilson’s campaign for Woman’s votes, 1916. Wilson initially opposed suffrage at the national level.

” data-full-height=”1349″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NjM3MDQz/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-515578720.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc1e00027ee” data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-515578720″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NjM3MDQz” data-source-name=”Bettmann Archive/Getty Images”>Miss Lucy Burns in jail after a suffragette picket in Washington, 1917. After peacefully demonstrating in front of the White House, 33 women endured a night of brutal beatings.

” data-full-height=”2000″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTA1OTcx/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-515421972.jpg” data-full-width=”1125″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc2a00026b3″ data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-515421972″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTA1OTcx” data-source-name=”Bettmann Archive/Getty Images”>A suffragette stands by a sign reading, "Women of America! If you want to put a vote in in 1920 put a (.10, 1.00, 10.00) in Now, National Ballot Box for 1920," circa 1920. 

On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

” data-full-height=”1369″ data-full-src=”https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Ch_2000%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_2000/MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTcxNTA3/womens-suffrage-gettyimages-614094430.jpg” data-full-width=”2000″ data-image-id=”ci0260ccc3b00026b3″ data-image-slug=”Womens Suffrage-GettyImages-614094430″ data-public-id=”MTcxMzYxOTEwNTc3NTcxNTA3″ data-source-name=”Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images”>

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Genghis Khan dies

Year: 1227

Month Day: August 18

Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader who forged an empire stretching from the east coast of China west to the Aral Sea, dies in camp during a campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia. The great Khan, who was over 60 and in failing health, may have succumbed to injuries incurred during a fall from a horse in the previous year.

Genghis Khan was born as Temujin around 1162. His father, a minor Mongol chieftain, died when Temujin was in his early teens. Temujin succeeded him, but the tribe would not obey so young a chief. Temporarily abandoned, Temujin’s family was left to fend for themselves in the wilderness of the Steppes.

By his late teens, Temujin had grown into a feared warrior and charismatic figure who began gathering followers and forging alliances with other Mongol leaders. After his wife was kidnapped by a rival tribe, Temujin organized a military force to defeat the tribe. Successful, he then turned against other clans and tribes and set out to unite the Mongols by force. Many warriors voluntarily came to his side, but those who did not were defeated and then offered the choice of obedience or death. The nobility of conquered tribes were generally executed. By 1206, Temujin was the leader of a great Mongol confederation and was granted the title Genghis Khan, translated as “Oceanic Ruler” or “Universal Ruler.”

Khan promulgated a code of conduct and organized his armies on a system of 10: 10 men to a squad, 10 squads to a company, 10 companies to a regiment, and 10 regiments to a “Tumen,” a fearful military unit made up of 10,000 cavalrymen. Because of their nomadic nature, the Mongols were able to breed far more horses than sedentary civilizations, which could not afford to sacrifice farmland for large breeding pastures. All of Khan’s warriors were mounted, and half of any given army was made up of armored soldiers wielding swords and lances. Light cavalry archers filled most of the remaining ranks. Khan’s family and other trusted clan members led these highly mobile armies, and by 1209 the Mongols were on the move against China.

Using an extensive network of spies and scouts, Khan detected a weakness in his enemies’ defenses and then attacked the point with as many as 250,000 cavalrymen at once. When attacking large cities, the Mongols used sophisticated sieging equipment such as catapults and mangonels and even diverted rivers to flood out the enemy. Most armies and cities crumbled under the overwhelming show of force, and the massacres that followed a Mongol victory eliminated thoughts of further resistance. Those who survived–and millions did not–were granted religious freedom and protection within the rapidly growing Mongol empire. By 1227, Khan had conquered much of Central Asia and made incursions into Eastern Europe, Persia, and India. His great empire stretched from central Russia down to the Aral Sea in the west, and from northern China down to Beijing in the east.

On August 18, 1227, while putting down a revolt in the kingdom of Xi Xia, Genghis Khan died. On his deathbed, he ordered that Xi Xia be wiped from the face of the earth. Obedient as always, Khan’s successors leveled whole cities and towns, killing or enslaving all their inhabitants. Obeying his order to keep his death secret, Genghis’ heirs slaughtered anyone who set eyes on his funeral procession making its way back to Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol empire. Still bringing death as he had in life, many were killed before his corpse was buried in an unmarked grave. His final resting place remains a mystery.

The Mongol empire continued to grow after Genghis Khan’s death, eventually encompassing most of inhabitable Eurasia. The empire disintegrated in the 14th century, but the rulers of many Asian states claimed descendant from Genghis Khan and his captains.

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Roanoke Colony deserted

Year: 1590

Month Day: August 18

John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony in present-day North Carolina, returns from a supply-trip to England to find the settlement deserted. White and his men found no trace of the 100 or so colonists he left behind, and there was no sign of violence. Among the missing were Ellinor Dare, White’s daughter; and Virginia Dare, White’s granddaughter and the first English child born in America. August 18 was to have been Virginia’s third birthday. The only clue to their mysterious disappearance was the word “CROATOAN” carved into the palisade that had been built around the settlement. White took the letters to mean that the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, some 50 miles away, but a later search of the island found none of the settlers.

The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585. The first Roanoke colonists did not fare well, suffering from dwindling food supplies and Indian attacks, and in 1586 they returned to England aboard a ship captained by Sir Francis Drake. In 1587, Raleigh sent out another group of 100 colonists under John White. White returned to England to procure more supplies, but the war with Spain delayed his return to Roanoke. By the time he finally returned in August 1590, everyone had vanished.

In 1998, archaeologists studying tree-ring data from Virginia found that extreme drought conditions persisted between 1587 and 1589. These conditions undoubtedly contributed to the demise of the so-called Lost Colony, but where the settlers went after they left Roanoke remains a mystery. One theory has them being absorbed into an Indian tribe known as the Croatans.

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Soviet hard-liners launch coup against Gorbachev

Year: 1991

Month Day: August 18

On August 18, 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest during a coup by high-ranking members of his own government, military and police forces.

Since becoming secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1988, Gorbachev had pursued comprehensive reforms of the Soviet system. Combining perestroika (“restructuring”) of the economy–including a greater emphasis on free-market policies–and glasnost (“openness”) in diplomacy, he greatly improved Soviet relations with Western democracies, particularly the United States. Meanwhile, though, within the USSR, Gorbachev faced powerful critics, including conservative, hard-line politicians and military officials who thought he was driving the Soviet Union toward its downfall and making it a second-rate power. On the other side were even more radical reformers–particularly Boris Yeltsin, president of the most powerful socialist republic, Russia–who complained that Gorbachev was just not working fast enough.

The August 1991 coup was carried out by the hard-line elements within Gorbachev’s own administration, as well as the heads of the Soviet army and the KGB, or secret police. Detained at his vacation villa in the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his resignation, which he refused to do. Claiming Gorbachev was ill, the coup leaders, headed by former vice president Gennady Yanayev, declared a state of emergency and attempted to take control of the government.

Yeltsin and his backers from the Russian parliament then stepped in, calling on the Russian people to strike and protest the coup. When soldiers tried to arrest Yeltsin, they found the way to the parliamentary building blocked by armed and unarmed civilians. Yeltsin himself climbed aboard a tank and spoke through a megaphone, urging the troops not to turn against the people and condemning the coup as a “new reign of terror.” The soldiers backed off, some of them choosing to join the resistance. After thousands took the streets to demonstrate, the coup collapsed after only three days.

Gorbachev was released and flown to Moscow, but his regime had been dealt a deadly blow. Over the next few months, he dissolved the Communist Party, granted independence to the Baltic states, and proposed a looser, more economics-based federation among the remaining republics. In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned. Yeltsin capitalized on his defeat of the coup, emerging from the rubble of the former Soviet Union as the most powerful figure in Moscow and the leader of the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

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Hitler suspends euthanasia program

Year: 1941

Month Day: August 18

Adolf Hitler orders that the systematic murder of the mentally ill and handicapped be brought to an end because of protests within Germany on August 18, 1941.

In 1939, Dr. Viktor Brack, head of Hitler’s Euthanasia Department, oversaw the creation of the T.4 program, which began as the systematic killing of children deemed “mentally defective.” Children were transported from all over Germany to a Special Psychiatric Youth Department and killed. Later, certain criteria were established for non-Jewish children. They had to be “certified” mentally ill, schizophrenic, or incapable of working for one reason or another. Jewish children already in mental hospitals, whatever the reason or whatever the prognosis, were automatically to be subject to the program. The victims were either injected with lethal substances or were led to “showers” where the children sat as gas flooded the room through water pipes. The program was then expanded to adults.

It wasn’t long before protests began mounting within Germany, especially by doctors and clergy. Some had the courage to write Hitler directly and describe the T.4 program as “barbaric”; others circulated their opinions more discreetly. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the man who would direct the systematic extermination of European Jewry, had only one regret: that the SS had not been put in charge of the whole affair. “We know how to deal with it correctly, without causing useless uproar among the people.”

Finally, in 1941, Bishop Count Clemens von Galen denounced the euthanasia program from his pulpit. Hitler did not need such publicity. He ordered the program suspended, at least in Germany. But 50,000 people had already fallen victim to it. It would be revived in occupied Poland.

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Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird hangs it up

Year: 1992

Month Day: August 18

On August 18, 1992, celebrated Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird retires.

Bird was a high school basketball star in his native Indiana. After graduation, he received a scholarship to play for legendary coach Bobby Knight at Indiana University, one of the finest teams in the country. However, Bird was homesick and uncomfortable in the spotlight in Bloomington and left the school after one month. He returned to French Lick, his hometown, and eventually enrolled at the smaller Indiana State, far from a basketball powerhouse. There, Bird was a one-man offense, averaging 30 points per game as a sophomore, junior and senior. He led the Sycamores to an undefeated record in his senior season (1978-79) before losing to Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans in the most viewed NCAA title game ever.

Bird entered the NBA in 1979 and had an immediate impact on the league, winning Rookie of the Year after leading the Celtics to a 61-21 record and first place in the Atlantic Division just one year after they went 29-53 and finished in last place. In his second season, Bird, playing alongside fellow future Hall of Famers Kevin McHale at forward and Robert Parrish at center, led the Celtics to an NBA title. They would win the championship again in 1984 and 1986, with Bird winning the Finals MVP each of those two years. He was the NBA regular season MVP three years in a row, from 1984 to 1986, and a first-team NBA All-Star nine times. In the process, he won legions of loyal fans in Boston and throughout the country. Bird was also recognized for his versatility on the court: He could pass, rebound, shoot from the outside and play tough defense. As his career progressed, though, Bird began to suffer from chronic back pain that, by the 1990s, limited both his playing time and his effectiveness.

The final triumph of Bird’s career came at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, his first Olympics and the first in which professional players were allowed to participate. The much-hyped U.S. “Dream Team,” which also included his good friend and rival Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley among other NBA greats, may have been the best basketball team ever assembled. They wowed the world with their amazing play, easily brought home the gold and appeared to have a spectacularly good time in the process.

In 1992, at the age of 35, Bird’s back condition finally rendered him unable to play. At an emotional press conference in Boston to announce his retirement, Bird explained, “The last couple of years have been very tough on me, on my back and on my body. It was very hard to deal with, day in and day out.” NBA commissioner David Stern released a statement that read in part “Quite simply, Larry Bird has helped to define the way a generation of basketball fans has come to view and appreciate the N.B.A. In the future, great players will be judged against the standards he has set, but there will never be another Larry Bird.”

Bird did not disappear from the NBA after his retirement from the court. He remained in Boston, working as a special assistant in the Celtics’ front office until 1997, when he was hired as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. In 1998–the same year he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame–he led the Pacers to a 58-24 record, the best in team history, and was named NBA Coach of the Year. Bird later became the team’s president of basketball operations, a position he held until 2017.

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George Washington signs Jay Treaty with Britain

Year: 1795

Month Day: August 18

On August 18, 1795, President George Washington signs the Jay (or “Jay’s”) Treaty with Great Britain.

This treaty, known officially as the “Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America” attempted to diffuse the tensions between England and the United States that had risen to renewed heights since the end of the Revolutionary War. The U.S. government objected to English military posts along America’s northern and western borders and Britain’s violation of American neutrality in 1794 when the Royal Navy seized American ships in the West Indies during England’s war with France. The treaty, written and negotiated by Supreme Court Chief Justice (and Washington appointee) John Jay, was signed by Britain’s King George III on November 19, 1794 in London. However, after Jay returned home with news of the treaty’s signing, Washington, now in his second term, encountered fierce Congressional opposition to the treaty; by 1795, its ratification was uncertain.

Leading the opposition to the treaty were two future presidents: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. At the time, Jefferson was in between political positions: he had just completed a term as Washington’s secretary of state from 1789 to 1793 and had not yet become John Adams’ vice president. Fellow Virginian James Madison was a member of the House of Representatives. Jefferson, Madison and other opponents feared the treaty gave too many concessions to the British. They argued that Jay’s negotiations actually weakened American trade rights and complained that it committed the U.S. to paying pre-revolutionary debts to English merchants. Washington himself was not completely satisfied with the treaty, but considered preventing another war with America’s former colonial master a priority.

Ultimately, the treaty was approved by Congress on August 14, 1795, with exactly the two-thirds majority it needed to pass; Washington signed the treaty four days later. Washington and Jay may have won the legislative battle and averted war temporarily, but the conflict at home highlighted a deepening division between those of different political ideologies in Washington, D.C. Jefferson and Madison mistrusted Washington’s attachment to maintaining friendly relations with England over revolutionary France, who would have welcomed the U.S. as a partner in an expanded war against England.

CHECK OUT: George Washington: An Interactive Map of His Key Battles

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Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is published in the U.S.

Year: 1958

Month Day: August 18

Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in the U.S. on August 18, 1958.

The novel, about a man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl, had been rejected by four publishers before G.P. Putnam’s Sons accepted it. The novel became a bestseller that allowed Nabokov to retire from his career as college professor.

Nabokov was born in 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russia, into a wealthy and privileged family. He lived in a St. Petersburg townhouse and on a country estate, and learned boxing, tennis, and chess. He grew up speaking both English and Russian, attended Cambridge, and inherited $2 million from an uncle. However, his family lost much of their wealth when the Russian Revolution forced them to flee to Germany. Nabokov earned money by teaching boxing and tennis, and creating Russian crossword puzzles. He worked during the day and wrote at night, sometimes in the bathroom so the light wouldn’t bother his family. He wrote many novels and short stories in Russian. In 1939, the tall, athletic scholar was invited to Stanford to lecture on Slavic languages. He stayed in the U.S. for 20 years, teaching at Wellesley and Cornell, and pursuing an avid interest in butterflies. (In fact, he was a research fellow at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology and discovered several species and subspecies of butterflies.) He and his wife, Vera, spent summers driving around the U.S., staying in motels, and looking for butterflies. The motels, the American landscape, and butterflies all figure prominently in various works.

Nabokov’s first novel in English was The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. His most successful books in the U.S. were Lolita and Ada (1969), a family chronicle about a childhood romance between two close relations, which becomes a lifelong obsession between the characters.

Nabokov and his wife returned to Europe in 1959, and he died in Switzerland in 1977.

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Yangtze River peaks in China

Year: 1931

Month Day: August 18

On August 18, 1931, the Yangtze River in China peaks during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. This was perhaps the worst natural disaster of the 20th century.

The Yangtze River runs through southern China, one of the most populated areas on Earth. The region’s people, most of whom lived at subsistence level, depended on the river for water for their personal and farming needs. In April, the river-basin area received far-above-average rainfall. When torrential rains came again in July, the stage was set for disaster. The Yangtze flooded over a 500-square-mile area. The rising waters drove 500,000 people from their homes by the beginning of August.

As the waters continued to rise in the first half of August and even more rain fell, the rice fields that dominated the landscape were swamped, destroying the crop. Major cities such as Wuhan and Nanjing depended on this rice and, without it, people in the cities starved to death. In addition, typhoid and dysentery were rampant due to the polluted river. The millions who died from this flood perished from starvation and disease, many after the flood waters had receded.

Much of the disaster may have been averted if flood-control measures had been followed closely. The Yangtze carries large amounts of sediment, which accumulates in certain areas of the river and must be cleared regularly. However, with much of the area’s resources devoted to civil war at the time, the river was neglected.

READ MORE: China: A Timeline

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A Seattle judge involved in a sex scandal dies by suicide

Year: 1988

Month Day: August 18

The Honorable Gary M. Little shoots himself just hours before the Seattle Post-Intelligencer releases an article accusing him of abusing his power by sexually exploiting juvenile defendants who appeared before him. The front-page article also suggested that he had exploited his teenage students as a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s. The scandal raised questions about the judicial system, because Little had been investigated and disciplined, but the investigations had been kept a secret.

In 1981, Little’s first year as a judge, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer received a tip about Little’s unusual relations with juvenile defendants. When the reporter investigated the matter, he found that Little, who was working as a volunteer counselor in juvenile court at the time, had been charged with third-degree assault in 1964. He was accused of assaulting a 16-year-old defendant in his apartment, but the charges had been dismissed. The paper never published the story, but it sparked an investigation by deputies working for King County prosecuting attorney Norm Maleng.

Reportedly, Little had visited three male juvenile defendants in detention without their attorneys present. One boy spent the night at the judge’s house, and another had spent time with him at his vacation home. Little never denied any of the accusations of his contact with the juveniles outside of the court but claimed that he was merely trying to help them. No evidence of sexual contact ever surfaced, but one prosecutor noted that all of the young defendants were handsome, blond, and male, and that there was strong evidence suggesting that the youths who had spent the night with Judge Little had received reduced sentences. The investigators submitted a 107-page complaint with the Judicial Conduct Commission, which dismissed the case and ordered that the information remain confidential.

Eventually, in 1985, Judge Little was quietly removed from presiding over juvenile cases. Also that year, the first public mention of the subject was published in the Seattle Times. However, the reporter who wrote the article was soon pulled off the case, despite new evidence that came forth after its publication. The issue was once again swept under the rug, where it remained until 1988, when two reporters from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer resumed the investigation. Soon after these reporters obtained affidavits by five former students claiming that Little had used his position as a teacher to extract sexual favors from them, Little announced that he would not run for re-election.

On the night of August 18, 1988, Gary Little was found lying in a pool of blood outside his chambers–three floors below the jail cell where his father, Sterling Little, hanged himself in August 1947 after being arrested in a burglary investigation.

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