This Day in History for December 1

1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.

On this date:
In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh.

In 1919, Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.

In 1934, Sergei M. Kirov, a collaborator of Josef Stalin, was assassinated in Leningrad, resulting in a massive purge.

In 1942, nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States.

In 1943, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference.

In 1956, the Leonard Bernstein musical "Candide," based on Voltaire, opened on Broadway.

In 1959, representatives of 12 countries, including the United States, signed a treaty in Washington setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity.

In 1965, an airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.

In 1969, the US government held its first draft lottery since World War Two.

In 1973, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87.

This Day in History for November 1

1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.

On this date:
In 1604, William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.

In 1611, Shakespeare's romantic comedy "The Tempest" was first presented at Whitehall.

In 1765, the Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.

In 1861, General George B. McClellan was made General-in-Chief of the Union armies.

In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Truman. The attempt failed, and one of the pair was killed.

In 1954, the western African nation of Algeria began its rebellion against French rule.

In 1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox.

In 1979, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington DC at age 82.

In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West.

This Day In History for October 25

1945
China takes over Taiwan.

1983
United States invades Grenada.

This Day In History for October 17

1933
Albert Einstein arrived in the United States.

1979
Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize.

1931
al capone convicted of tax evasion.

Birthdays
1972 - Eminem

This Day In History for October 15

1951
The TV show I Love Lucy debuted.

1989
Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL all time scoring leader

1991
Senate confirm Clarence Thomas

1993
Nelson Mandela wins Nobel Peace Prize

2003
China launches first manned spaceship

Birthdays
1959 - Sarah Ferguson

This Day In History for October 14

1912
Theodore Roosevelt shot nonfataly in the chest

1977
Bing Crosby died at age 73.

Birthdays
1890 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president
1939 - Ralph Lauren
1978 - Usher

This Day In History for October 13

1792 - The White House is laid in Washington D.C.
1974 - Ed Sullivan died at age 72.
1983 - AT&T launched America's first cellular network.

This Day In History for October 9

1888
The Washington Monument opens for the public.

Birthdays
1964 - Guillermo del Tero

Deaths
1806 - Benjamin Banneker

This Day In History for October 8

2004
Martha Stewar bagan her prison sentence.

1959
New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the only ever perfect game in a world series.

Birthdays
1970 - Matt Damon
1943 - Chevy Chase
1941 - Jesse Jackson

Deaths
1869 - Franklin Pierce

This Day In History - October 7

1849
Edgar Allan Poe died.

1949
East Germany became a country.

1952
The barcode was patented, patent number: 2612994.

2003
Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California.

This Day in History for October 1

1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China during a ceremony in Beijing.

On this date:
In 1800, Spain ceded Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.

In 1885, special delivery mail service began in the United States.

In 1896, the US Post Office established Rural Free Delivery.

In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model T automobile to the market.

In 1940, the first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, 160 miles in length, was opened to the public.

In 1943, Allied forces captured Naples during World War Two.

In 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run during a 162-game season, compared to Babe Ruth's 60 home runs during a 154-game season.

In 1964, the Free Speech Movement was launched at the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida.

In 1989, thousands of East Germans received a triumphal welcome in West Germany after the communist government agreed to let them flee to the West.

This Day in History for September 1

1939, World War Two began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

On this date:
In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason.

In 1897, the first section of Boston's new subway system was opened.

In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan entered Confederation as the eighth and ninth provinces of Canada.

In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 150,000 lives.

In 1932, New York City Mayor James J. "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigned following charges of graft and corruption in his administration.

In 1942, a federal judge in Sacramento, California, upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals.

In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.

In 1972, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.

In 1983, 269 people were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti died of a heart attack at his summer home in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, at age 51.

This Day in History for August 1

1946, President Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships named for Senator J. William Fulbright.

On this date:
In 1790, the first United States census was completed, showing a population of nearly four million people.

In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.

In 1936, the Olympic games opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

In 1943, race-related rioting erupted in New York's Harlem section, resulting in several deaths.

In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation, a revolt that lasted two months before collapsing.

In 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission was established.

In 1957, the United States and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

In 1966, 25-year-old Charles Joseph Whitman shot and killed 15 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned down by police.

In 1975, a 35-nation summit in Helsinki, Finland, concluded with the signing of an accord dealing with European security, human rights and East-West contacts

This Day In History for July 1

1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.

On this date:
In 1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.
In 1943, "pay-as-you-go" income tax withholding began.

In 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. (She died in August 1997 in a car crash in Paris at age 36.)

In 1963, the US Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.

In 1968, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In 1969, Britain's Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales.

In 1980, "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.

This Day In History for June 1

1980, Cable News Network made its debut.

On this date:
In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state of the union.

In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.

In 1801, Mormon leader Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Vermont.
In 1813, the commander of the US frigate "Chesapeake," Captain James Lawrence, said, "Don't give up the ship" during a losing battle with a British frigate.

In 1868, James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, died near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In 1926, actress Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles.

In 1943, a civilian flight from Lisbon to London was shot down by the Germans during World War Two, killing all aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.

In 1958, Charles de Gaulle became premier of France.

In 1977, the Soviet Union formally charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason. (Shcharansky was imprisoned, then released in 1986.)

In 1997, Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, was fatally burned in a fire set by her 12-year-old grandson in her Yonkers, New York apartment.

This Day In History for October 19

1933
Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.

1960
US imposes embargo on Cuban exports.

1987
The stock market crashed, dropping 22%, making the second biggest drop ever.

1983
Martin Luther King's birthday becomes a national holiday.


Birthdays
1885 - Charles E. Merrill

This Day In History for April 1

1945, American forces invaded Okinawa during World War Two.

On this date:
In 1789, the US House of Representatives held its first full meeting, in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House Speaker.

In 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first US city to pay its firefighters a regular salary.

In 1873, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Novgorod Province, Russia.

In 1918, the Royal Air Force was established in Britain.

In 1933, Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.

In 1939, the United States recognized the Franco government in Spain following the end of the Spanish civil war.

In 1946, tidal waves struck the Hawaiian islands, resulting in more than 170 deaths.

In 1947, Greece's King George the Second died.

In 1960, the first weather satellite, "TIROS-One," was launched from Cape Canaveral.

In 1970, President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after January first, 1971.

This Day In History for March 1

1932, the infant son of Anne and Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the baby were found the following May.)

On this date:
In 1781, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.

In 1790, Congress authorized the first US Census.

In 1845, President Tyler signed a congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.

In 1864, Rebecca Lee became the first black woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.

In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state.

In 1872, Congress authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park.

In 1940, "Native Son" by Richard Wright was first published.

In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U-S House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen.

In 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.

This Day In History for February 28

1960, a day after defeating the Soviets at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif., the United States won its first Olympic hockey gold medal by defeating Czechoslovakia's team, 9-4.


On this date:

In 1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

In 1849, the California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.

In 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized.

In 1940, the first televised college basketball games were broadcast, by New York City station W2XBS, as Pittsburgh defeated Fordham, 57-37, and New York University beat Georgetown, 50-27, at Madison Square Garden.

In 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China.

In 1975, more than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.

In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (PAHL'-meh) was shot to death in central Stockholm.

In 1993, a gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

In 1997, in North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed and armored robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.

This Day In History for February 27

1960, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

In 1801, the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.

In 1861, in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.

In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of women to vote.

In 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag (RYKS'-tahg), was gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

In 1939, the Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., outlawed sit-down strikes.

In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until May.)

In 1979, Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush declared that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.

This Day In History for February 26

1940, the United States Air Defense Command was created.

In 1802, French literary giant Victor Hugo was born in Besancon (buhz-an-SOHN').

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba.

In 1870, an experimental air-driven subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, opened in New York City for public demonstrations.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure establishing Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

In 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

In 1945, a midnight curfew on night clubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.

In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

In 1979, a total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.

In 1987, the Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

In 1993, a bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

This Day In History for February 25

1940, a hockey game was televised for the first time, by New York City station W2XBS, as the New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden.


On this date:

In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

In 1901, United States Steel Corporation was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

In 1919, Oregon became the first state to tax gasoline, at one cent per gallon.

In 1948, Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

In 1950, "Your Show of Shows," starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV.

In 1964, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

In 1990, Nicaraguans went to the polls in an election that resulted in an upset victory for the alliance opposed to the ruling Sandinistas.

In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

This Day In History for February 24

1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

On this date:

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today.)

In 1803, in its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.

In 1821, Mexican rebels proclaimed the "Plan de Iguala," their declaration of independence from Spain.

In 1863, Arizona was organized as a territory.

In 1920, the German Workers Party, which later became the Nazi Party, met in Munich to adopt its platform.

In 1942, the Voice of America went on the air for the first time.

In 1946, Argentinian men went to the polls to elect Juan D. Peron their president.

In 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated Finland, 4-2, to clinch the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 1983, a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a "grave injustice."

In 1990, magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes died in Far Hills, N.J. at age 70. Fifties balladeer Johnnie Ray died in Los Angeles at age 63.

This Day In History for February 23

1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag twice. (The second flag-raising was captured in the iconic photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press.)


On this date:

In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1848, the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington, D.C. at age 80.

In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of a possible assassination plot in Baltimore.

In 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

In 1927, President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

In 1942, the first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, Calif., causing little damage.

In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

In 1970, Guyana became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

In 1981, an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)

In 1990, former Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte (doo-AHR'-tay) died at age 64.

This Day in History for February 22

1819 Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1865 Tennessee adopted a new constitution abolishing slavery.
1879 Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y.
1924 Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.
1932 Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., was born in Boston, the youngest child of Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy.
1935 It became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.
1959 The inaugural Daytona 500 race was held in Daytona Beach, Fla.
1980 In a stunning upset, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets 4-3 at Lake Placid, N.Y.

This Day in History for February 21

1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.

On this date:

In 1846, Sarah G. Bagley became the first female telegrapher as she took charge at the newly opened telegraph office in Lowell, Mass.

In 1866, Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.

In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting.

In 1925, The New Yorker magazine made its debut.

In 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside the Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing.

1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board.

In 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States won the gold medal in ladies' figure skating at the Albertville Olympics.

In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

This Day In History for February 20

1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.


In 1790, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.

In 1792, President George Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

In 1809, the Supreme Court ruled that no state legislature could annul the judgments or determine the jurisdictions of federal courts.

In 1839, Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

In 1934, a blizzard inundated the northeastern United States.

In 1938, Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

In 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Rabinowitz, ruled 5-3 that authorities making a lawful arrest did not need a warrant to search and seize evidence in an area that was in the "immediate and complete control" of the suspect.

In 1971, the National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado erroneously ordered U.S. radio and TV stations off the air; some stations heeded the alert, which was not lifted for about 40 minutes.

In 2003, a fire broke out during a rock concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

This Day in History for February 19

1945, during World War II, some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.


On this date:

In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.

In 1803, Congress voted to accept Ohio's borders and constitution.

In 1846, the Texas state government was formally installed in Austin, with J. Pinckney Henderson taking the oath of office as governor.

In 1881, Kansas prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the military to relocate and intern U.S. residents, including native-born Americans, of Japanese ancestry. Japanese warplanes raided the Australian city of Darwin; at least 243 people were killed.

In 1959, an agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.

In 1983, 13 people were found shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown in what became known as the "Wah Mee Massacre." (Two Chinese immigrants were convicted of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.)

In 1997, Deng Xiaoping, the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton posthumously pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, whose military career had been tarnished by a racially motivated discharge.

In 2008, an ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raul was later named to succeed him.

This Dayiin History for February 18

1885, Mark Twain's ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' was published in the U.S. for the first time (it had been published in Canada and England the previous December).

On this date:

In 1546, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.
In 1564, artist Michelangelo died in Rome.
In 1735, the first opera presented in America, ''Flora, or Hob in the Well,'' was performed in present-day Charleston, S.C.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.
In 1930, photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a ''dwarf planet'') was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
In 1960, the 8th Winter Olympic Games were formally opened in Squaw Valley, Calif., by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
In 1970, the ''Chicago Seven'' defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).
In 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden ''flight'' above the Mojave (moh-HAH'-vee) Desert.
In 1984, Italy and the Vatican signed an accord under which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion of Italy.
In 2001, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt, Sr. died from injuries Advertisement

suffered in a crash at the Advertisement
Daytona 500; he was 49.

This Day in History for February 17

, 1897, the forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convened its first meeting, in Washington.


On this date:

In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.

In 1809, the Ohio legislature voted to establish Miami University in present-day Oxford. (The school opened in 1824.)

In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic was rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, S.C., by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley, which also sank.

In 1865, Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in. (It's not clear which side set the blaze.)

In 1904, the original two-act version of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" was poorly received at its premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy.

1909, Chiricahua (chi-rih-KAH'-wuh) Apache leader Geronimo (also known as Goyathlay, "One Who Yawns") died at Fort Sill, Okla., at age 79.

In 1947, the Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.

In 1959, the United States launched Vanguard 2, a satellite which carried meteorological equipment on board.

In 1964, the Supreme Court, in Wesberry v. Sanders, ruled that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.

This Day In History for February 16

1960, the nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Conn. on the first-ever totally submerged circumnavigation by a vessel, a voyage which took nearly three months.


On this date:

In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

In 1862, during the Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union General Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant.")

In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

In 1918, Lithuania proclaimed its independence, which lasted until World War II (it again declared independence in 1990).

In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

In 1945, American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

In 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1968, the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Ala.

In 1977, Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board.

This Day In History for February 15

1898, the U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.


On this date:

In 1710, King Louis XV of France was born.

In 1764, the city of St. Louis was established by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau.

In 1820, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, Mass.

In 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

In 1933, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak; gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed more than four weeks later.

In 1942, the British colony Singapore surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.

In 1944, Allied bombers destroyed the monastery atop Monte Cassino (MAWN'-tay kah-SEE'-noh) in Italy.

In 1961, 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.

In 1965, Canada's new maple-leaf flag was unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa.

In 1989, the Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after more than nine years of military intervention.

This Day In History for February 14

1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maud Wood Park.

On this date:

In 1778, the American ship Ranger carried the recently adopted Stars and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France.

In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde's final play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James's Theatre in London.

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.)

In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union.

In 1929, the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down.

In 1962, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the White House in a videotaped special that was broadcast on CBS and NBC (and several nights later on ABC).

In 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.

In 1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. (She lived until November 1990.)

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," a novel condemned as blasphemous.

Birthdays
1972 - Rob Thomas

This Day In History for February 13

In 1542, the fifth wife of England’s King Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery.

In 1741, Andrew Bradford of Pennsylvania published the first American magazine. Titled “The American Magazine, or A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies,’’ it lasted three issues.

In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.

In 1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

In 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)

In 1939, Justice Louis D. Brandeis retired from the US Supreme Court. (He was succeeded by William O. Douglas.)

In 1945, during World War II, Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden. The Soviets captured Budapest from the Germans.

In 1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert.

In 1980, the 13th Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 1984, Konstantin Chernenko was chosen to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party’s Central Committee, succeeding the late Yuri Andropov.

In 1988, the 15th winter Olympics opened in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In 2000, Charles Schulz’s final “Peanuts’’ strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at 77. Tiger Woods saw his streak of six consecutive victories come to an end as he fell short to Phil Mickelson in the Buick Invitational.

In 2005, final results showed clergy-backed Shi’ites and independence-minded Kurds had swept to victory in Iraq’s landmark elections. Ray Charles’s final album, “Genius Loves Company,’’ won eight Grammy awards. The AFC won the Pro Bowl, defeating the NFC 38-27.

In 2009, A $787 billion stimulus bill aimed at easing the worst economic crisis in decades cleared both houses of Congress. Peanut Corp. of America, the peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak, filed for bankruptcy. A female suicide bomber targeted Shi’ite pilgrims in Musayyib, Iraq, killing at least 40.

This Day In History for February 12

1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in present-day Larue County, Ky. Naturalist Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England.

On this date:
In 1554, Lady Jane Grey, who'd claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.
In 1795, the University of North Carolina became the first U.S. state university to admit students with the arrival of Hinton James, who was the only student on campus for two weeks.
In 1818, Chile officially proclaimed its independence, more than seven years after initially renouncing Spanish rule.
In 1908, the first round-the-world automobile race began in New York. (It ended in Paris the following July with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.)
In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.
In 1915, the cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C., a year to the day after groundbreaking.
In 1940, the radio play "The Adventures of Superman" debuted with Bud Collyer as the Man of Steel.
In 1959, the redesigned Lincoln penny - with an image of the Lincoln Memorial replacing two ears of wheat on the reverse side - went into circulation.
In 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.
In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice; Clinton told Americans he was "profoundly sorry" for what he'd said and done in the Monica Lewinsky affair that triggered it all.

This Day In History for February 11

1960, "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar stunned his audience by walking off the program in a dispute with NBC over its decision to censor an anecdote he'd quoted the night before having to do with a misunderstanding over the British term "W.C." (short for "water closet," or bathroom). Despite his very public resignation, Paar returned to the Tonight Show less than a month later.


On this date:

In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a re-districting law favoring his party giving rise to the term "gerrymandering."

In 1858, a French girl, Bernadette Soubirous (soo-bee-ROO'), reported the first of 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in a grotto near Lourdes. (The Catholic Church later accepted that the visions were of the Virgin Mary.)

In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln departed Springfield, Ill. for Washington.

In 1929, the Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

In 1937, a six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ended, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement during World War II.

In 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party.

In 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-MAY'-nee) seized power in Iran.

In 1989, Reverend Barbara C. Harris became the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a ceremony held in Boston.

In 1990, South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

This Day In History for February 10

1967, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, dealing with presidential disability and succession, was ratified as Minnesota and Nevada adopted it.

On this date:
In 1763, Britain, Spain and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War.
In 1840, Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1841, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were proclaimed united under an Act of Union passed by the British Parliament.
In 1942, the former French liner Normandie capsized in New York Harbor a day after it caught fire while being refitted for the U.S. Navy.
In 1949, Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" opened at Broadway's Morosco Theater with Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman.
In 1959, a major tornado tore through the St. Louis, Mo., area, killing 21 people and causing heavy damage.
In 1962, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.
In 1968, U.S. figure skater Peggy Fleming won America's only gold medal of the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.
In 1981, eight people were killed when a fire set by a busboy broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino.
In 1989, Ron Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first black to head a major U.S. political party.

This Day In History for February 9

1960, Adolph Coors Co. chairman Adolph Coors III, 44, was shot to death during a botched kidnapping attempt while on his way to the family brewery in Golden, Colo. (Coors' body wasn't found for seven months; the man who killed him, Joseph Corbett Jr., served 19 years in prison. Corbett committed suicide in Aug. 2009.)


On this date:

In 1773, the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Va.

In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

In 1942, daylight-saving "War Time" went into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.

In 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

In 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, W.Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

In 1971, the crew of Apollo 14 returned to Earth after man's third landing on the moon.

In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov died at age 69, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was succeeded by Konstantin U. Chernenko (chehr-NYEN'-koh).

In 2002, Britain's Princess Margaret, the high-spirited and unconventional sister of Queen Elizabeth II, died in London at age 71.

This Day In History for February 8

In 1693, a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony.

In 1837, the Senate selected the vice president of the United States, choosing Richard Mentor Johnson after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

In 1924, the first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death.

In 1960, work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.

In 1968, three college students were killed in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C. during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.

In 1978, the deliberations of the Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time as members opened debate on the Panama Canal treaties.

In 1989, 144 people were killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.

In 2007, model, actress and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died in Florida at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose

This Day In History for February 7

1984, space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered space walk, which lasted nearly six hours.


On this date:

In 1812, author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.

In 1857, a French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel "Madame Bovary."

In 1904, a fire began in Baltimore that raged for about 30 hours and destroyed more than 1,500 buildings.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized a flag for the office of the vice president.

In 1943, the government announced the start of shoe rationing, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person for the remainder of the year.

In 1948, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley.

In 1971, women in Switzerland gained the right to vote through a national referendum, 12 years after a previous attempt failed.

In 1974, the island nation of Grenada (greh-NAY'-duh) won independence from Britain.

In 1983, Elizabeth H. Dole was sworn in as the first female secretary of transportation by the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In 1999, Jordan's King Hussein died of cancer at age 63; he was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah.

This Day In History for February 6

Feb. 6, 1952, Britain's King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

On this date:

In 1756, America's third vice president, Aaron Burr, was born in Newark, N.J.

In 1778, the United States won official recognition from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris.

In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate.

In 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Illinois.

In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called "lame duck" amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.

In 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral.

In 1978, Muriel Humphrey took the oath of office as a United States senator from Minnesota, filling the seat of her late husband, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

In 1992, 16 people were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed in Evansville, Ind.

In 1996, a Turkish-owned Boeing 757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Repubic, killing 189 people, mostly German tourists.

This Day In History for February 5

1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a Judiciary Reorganization Bill that would have increased the number of Supreme Court justices; critics accused Roosevelt of attempting to "pack" the court.(The measure failed in Congress.)


On this date:

In 1631, the co-founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, and his wife, Mary, arrived in Boston from England.

In 1783, Sweden recognized the independence of the United States.

In 1811, George, Prince of Wales, was named the Prince Regent due to the insanity of his father, Britain's King George III.

In 1887, Verdi's opera "Otello" premiered at La Scala.

In 1917, Congress passed, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, an immigration act severely curtailing the influx of Asians. Mexico's constitution was adopted.

In 1940, Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded "Tuxedo Junction" for RCA Victor's Bluebird label.

In 1958, Gamal Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab Republic (a union of Syria and Egypt).

In 1973, services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for Army Lt. Col. William B. Nolde, the last official American combat casualty before the Vietnam cease-fire.

In 1989, the Soviet Union announced that all but a small rear-guard contingent of its troops had left Afghanistan.

This Day In History for February 4

1783, Britain's King George III proclaimed a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.


On this date:

In 1789, electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

In 1861, delegates from six Southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid.

In 1938, the Thornton Wilder play "Our Town" opened on Broadway.

In 1941, the United Service Organizations (USO) came into existence.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

In 1948, the island nation of Ceylon now Sri Lanka became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 1976, more than 23,000 people died when a severe earthquake struck Guatemala with a magnitude of 7.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1999, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was shot and killed in front of his Bronx home by four plainclothes New York City police officers. (The officers were acquitted at trial.)

This Day In History for February 3

1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived. Four Army chaplains gave their life belts to four other men, and went down with the ship.


On this date:

In 1809, German composer Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg. Congress passed an act establishing the Illinois Territory effective March 1.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

In 1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.

In 1924, the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington, D.C. at age 67.

In 1930, the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.)

In 1959, rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. An American Airlines Lockheed Electra crashed into New York's East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

In 1969, Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee during a council meeting in Cairo, Egypt.

In 1989, Alfredo Stroessner, president of Paraguay for more than three decades, was overthrown in a military coup.

This Day In History for February 2

1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, was signed.


On this date:

In 1536, present-day Buenos Aires, Argentina, was founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.

In 1653, New Amsterdam now New York City was incorporated.

In 1870, the "Cardiff Giant," supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y., was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.

In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.

In 1882, Irish poet and novelist James Joyce was born near Dublin.

In 1897, fire destroyed the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. (A new statehouse was dedicated on the same site in 1906.)

In 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman sent a 10-point civil rights program to Congress, where the proposals ran into fierce opposition from southern lawmakers.

In 1980, NBC News reported the FBI had conducted a sting operation targeting members of Congress using phony Arab businessmen in what became known as "Abscam," a codename protested by Arab-Americans.

In 1990, in a dramatic concession to South Africa's black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.

This Day In History for February 1

1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., which refused to serve them; similar protests sprang up across the South.


On this date:

In 1861, Texas voted to secede from the Union.

In 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence, merging the Royal North West Mounted Police and the Dominion Police.

In 1943, one of America's most highly decorated military units of World War II, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, was authorized.

In 1946, Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie (TRIG'-vuh lee) was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

In 1958, the United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria, was established. (Syria withdrew from the union in 1961.)

In 1959, men in Switzerland rejected giving women the right to vote by a more than 2-1 referendum margin. (Swiss women gained the right to vote in 1971.)

In 1968, during the Vietnam War, South Vietnam's police chief (Nguyen Ngoc Loan) executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. Richard M. Nixon announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (hoh-MAY'-nee) received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

In 1991, 34 people were killed when a USAir jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members.

This Day In History for January 28

1986, the space shuttle "Challenger" exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.

On this date:
In 1547, England's King Henry the Eighth died; he was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Edward the Sixth.

In 1596, English navigator Sir Francis Drake died off the coast of Panama; he was buried at sea.

In 1853, Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti was born in Havana.

In 1902, the Carnegie Institute was established in Washington DC.

In 1909, the United States ended direct control over Cuba.

In 1915, the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.

In 1916, Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.

In 1945, during World War Two, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

In 1980, six US diplomats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.

In 1982, Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued US Brigadier General James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.

This Day in History for January 14

1900, Puccini's opera "Tosca" received a mixed reception at its Rome world premiere.

On this date:
In 1639, the first constitution of Connecticut -- the "Fundamental Orders" -- was adopted.

In 1742, English astronomer Edmond Halley, who observed the comet that now bears his name, died at age 85.

1784, the United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

In 1858, French emperor Napoleon the Third escaped an attempt on his life.

In 1943, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.

In 1952, NBC's "Today" show premiered.

1953, Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament.

In 1963, George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever."

In 1969, 25 crew members of the US aircraft carrier "Enterprise" were killed in an explosion that ripped through the ship off Hawaii.

1970, Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

This Day in History for January 8

1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.

In 1642, astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.

In 1815, US forces led by General Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans -- the closing engagement of the War of 1812.

In 1894, fire caused serious damage at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In 1918, President Wilson outlined his 14 points for peace after World War One.

In 1918, Mississippi became the first state to ratify a proposed amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the sale, manufacture or transportation of liquor.

In 1964, President Johnson declared a "War on Poverty."

In 1973, secret peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resumed near Paris.

In 1976, Chinese premier Chou En-lai died in Beijing at age 78.

In 1982, American Telephone and Telegraph settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.

In 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2000, ending the day at 2002.25.

This Day in History for January 7

1999, for the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate. President Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted.

In 1610, the astronomer Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter's moons.

In 1800, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, was born in Summerhill, New York.

In 1894, one of the earliest motion picture experiments took place at the Thomas Edison studio in West Orange, New Jersey, as comedian Fred Ott was filmed sneezing.

In 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

In 1942, the World War Two siege of Bataan began.

In 1953, President Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.

In 1959, the United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.

In 1972, Lewis F. Powell Junior and William H. Rehnquist were sworn in as the 99th and 100th members of the US Supreme Court.

In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.

This Day in History for January 6

1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.

In 1412, according to tradition, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy.

In 1540, England's King Henry the Eighth married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. (The marriage lasted about six months.)

In 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.

In 1838, Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, New York at age 60.

In 1942, the Pan American Airways "Pacific Clipper" arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, New York.

In 1950, Britain recognized the Communist government of China.

In 1967, US Marines and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation "Deckhouse Five (V)," an offensive in the Mekong River delta.

In 1993, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev died in Paris at age 54; jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died in Englewood, New Jersey, at age 75.

This Day in History for January 5

1925, Nellie T. Ross succeeded her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in US history

In 1895, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was ultimately vindicated.)

In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Massachusetts, at age 60.

In 1943, educator and scientist George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Alabama, at age 81.

In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Truman labeled his administration the "Fair Deal."
In 1589, Catherine de Medici of France died at age 69.

In 1970, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pennsylvania, home.

In 1972, President Nixon ordered development of the space shuttle.

In 1975, "The Wiz," a musical version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" featuring an all-black cast, opened on Broadway.

In 1994, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81.

In 1998, Sonny Bono, the 1960's pop star-turned-politician, died in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, California; he was 62.

This Day in History for January 4

1965, President Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great Society" in his State of the Union Address.

1809, Louis Braille, inventor of a reading system for the blind, was born in Coupvray, France.

In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

In 1885, Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what's believed to have been the first appendectomy on 22-year-old Mary Gartside.

1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.

In 1948, Britain granted independence to Burma.

In 1951, during the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

In 1960, French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46.

In 1965, poet T.S. Eliot died in London at age 76.

n 1974, President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

In 1987, sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track in Chase, Maryland.

This Day In History for January 3

1920
the new york yankees traded for babe ruth

1959
alaska became state number 49

1987
arthea franklin became the first woman to be included into the rock and roll hall of fame

1956
actor mel gibson was born

1973
george steinbrenne bougt the yankees

1938
march of dimes was established by fdr

1521
martin luther excommunicated by roman catholic church

This Day In History for January 2

1788
georgia became the 4th state of the United States. It was named after king george II. it was the first of the southern states to gain statehood. The letter of ratification was signed by the Delegates to the Augusta Convention.

1839
the first photo of the moon was taken by french photographer louis Daguerre.

1905
the Russo-japanese war ended when the russians surrendered to the japanese at port Arthur

1994
rudy guliana was inaugurated mayor of new york city on the steps of City Well becoming mayor number 107.

1920
russian born american author author isaac asimov was born. Asimov is

1984
wilson goode became the first black mayor of Philadelphia

1974
president richard nixon put in effect 55 mph to conserve gas during the 1973 energy crisis. The law was not repelled until 1995.

1960
john f kennedy announced he would run for president

This Day In History for January 1

1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states were free.

On this date:
In 1892, the Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York formally opened.

In 1898, Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City.

In 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.

In 1953, country singer Hank Williams Senior, 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose while en route to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.

In 1958, treaties establishing the European Economic Community went into effect.

In 1959, Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista.

In 1979, the United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In 1984, the break-up of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.

In 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.