Hijacking four commercial jetliners, terrorists crashed one plane into the Pentagon and one into each of the twin towers of the World Trace Center, 110-story buildings that housed 50,000 workers at the peak of the workday. Millions of Ameicans watched in horror as television showed first one tower and then the other burned and disintergrated. September 11 was an occasion for terror and courage. Passangers on the fourth plane fought the hijackers and made sure that it crashede in a Pennsylvania field rather that hit a fourth target. Altogether, 479 police officers, fire fighters, and other emergency workers died in the collapse ofthe towers. Thousands of volunteers rushee to help. The total confirmed death toll was 2,795 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
This Day In History for September 11
1870 - Terrorists strike the World Trade Center in New York....more
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
This Day In History for May 29
1790 - Rhode Island became the 13th original colony to ratify the United States Constitution.
1765 - Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
1848 - Wisconsin became the 30th state of the union.
1917 - the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
1932 - World War One veterans began arriving in Washington to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive for another 13 years.
1942 - actor John Barrymore died in Hollywood at age 60.
1943 - Norman Rockwell's portrait of "Rosie the Riveter" appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
1953 - Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tensing Norkay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit.
1973 - Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Sam Yorty.
1985 - 35 people were killed in rioting that erupted between British and Italian spectators at the European Cup soccer final in Brussels, Belgium.
1998 - former Arizona senator Barry Goldwater died in Paradise Valley at age 89.
1765 - Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
1848 - Wisconsin became the 30th state of the union.
1917 - the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
1932 - World War One veterans began arriving in Washington to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive for another 13 years.
1942 - actor John Barrymore died in Hollywood at age 60.
1943 - Norman Rockwell's portrait of "Rosie the Riveter" appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
1953 - Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tensing Norkay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit.
1973 - Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Sam Yorty.
1985 - 35 people were killed in rioting that erupted between British and Italian spectators at the European Cup soccer final in Brussels, Belgium.
1998 - former Arizona senator Barry Goldwater died in Paradise Valley at age 89.
Friday, May 28, 2010
This Day In History for May 28
1863 - the first black regiment from the North left Boston to fight in the Civil War.
1533 - England's Archbishop declared the marriage of King Henry the Eighth to Anne Boleyn valid.
1892 - the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.
1934 - the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.
1937 - Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.
1940 - during World War Two, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.
1972 - the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at age 77.
1977 - 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.
1984 - President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. (However, the remains were later exhumed and identified as those of Air Force First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.)
1985 - David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).
1987 - Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square after evading Soviet air defenses.
1533 - England's Archbishop declared the marriage of King Henry the Eighth to Anne Boleyn valid.
1892 - the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.
1934 - the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.
1937 - Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.
1940 - during World War Two, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.
1972 - the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at age 77.
1977 - 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.
1984 - President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. (However, the remains were later exhumed and identified as those of Air Force First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.)
1985 - David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).
1987 - Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square after evading Soviet air defenses.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
This Day In History for May 27
1937 - the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, was opened to the public.
1647 - the first recorded American execution of a "witch" took place in Massachusetts.
1818 - American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the garment that bears her name -- "bloomers" -- was born in Homer, New York.
1896 - 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.
1935 - the Supreme Court struck down the National - strial Recovery Act.
1936 - the Cunard liner "Queen Mary" left England on its maiden voyage.
1941 - amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency."
1941 - the British navy sank the German battleship "Bismarck" off France, with a loss of 2300 lives.
1964 - independent dia\'s first prime minister - Jawaharlal Nehru, died.
1985 - in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.
1994 - Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional cheers of thousands after two decades in exile.
1647 - the first recorded American execution of a "witch" took place in Massachusetts.
1818 - American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the garment that bears her name -- "bloomers" -- was born in Homer, New York.
1896 - 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.
1935 - the Supreme Court struck down the National - strial Recovery Act.
1936 - the Cunard liner "Queen Mary" left England on its maiden voyage.
1941 - amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency."
1941 - the British navy sank the German battleship "Bismarck" off France, with a loss of 2300 lives.
1964 - independent dia\'s first prime minister - Jawaharlal Nehru, died.
1985 - in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.
1994 - Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional cheers of thousands after two decades in exile.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
This Day In History for May 26
1940 - the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, during World War Two began.
1521 - Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings.
1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned king of Italy.
1865 - arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.
1868 - the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on all remaining charges.
1913 - Actors' Equity Association was organized.
1960 - UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the US embassy in Moscow.
1969 - the "Apollo Ten" astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1981 - 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS "Nimitz" off Florida.
1991 - a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard.
1994 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. (The marriage ended, however, in 1996.)
1521 - Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings.
1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned king of Italy.
1865 - arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.
1868 - the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on all remaining charges.
1913 - Actors' Equity Association was organized.
1960 - UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the US embassy in Moscow.
1969 - the "Apollo Ten" astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1981 - 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS "Nimitz" off Florida.
1991 - a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard.
1994 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. (The marriage ended, however, in 1996.)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
This Day In History for May 25
1787, the Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.
In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spain.
In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a morals charge in London; he was sentenced to prison.
In 1935, Babe Ruth hit the 714th and final home run of his career, for the Boston Braves, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, King Abdullah Ibn Ul-Hussein.
In 1961, President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
In 1963, the Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In 1968, the Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was dedicated.
In 1976, US Representative Wayne L. Hays (Democrat, Ohio) admitted to a "personal relationship" with Elizabeth Ray, a committee staff member who claimed she'd received her job in order to be Hays' mistress.
In 1979, 275 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed on takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare airport.
In 1992, Jay Leno made his debut as full-time host of NBC's "Tonight Show," succeeding Johnny Carson.
In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spain.
In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a morals charge in London; he was sentenced to prison.
In 1935, Babe Ruth hit the 714th and final home run of his career, for the Boston Braves, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, King Abdullah Ibn Ul-Hussein.
In 1961, President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
In 1963, the Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In 1968, the Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was dedicated.
In 1976, US Representative Wayne L. Hays (Democrat, Ohio) admitted to a "personal relationship" with Elizabeth Ray, a committee staff member who claimed she'd received her job in order to be Hays' mistress.
In 1979, 275 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed on takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare airport.
In 1992, Jay Leno made his debut as full-time host of NBC's "Tonight Show," succeeding Johnny Carson.
Monday, May 24, 2010
This Day In History for May 24
1844 - Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America's first telegraph line.
1819 - Queen Victoria was born in London.
1830 - the first passenger railroad in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Maryland.
1881 - some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry "Princess Victoria" sank near London, Ontario.
1883 - the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.
1935 - the first major league baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-to-1.
1941 - the German battleship "Bismarck" sank the British dreadnought "Hood" in the North Atlantic.
1962 - astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard "Aurora Seven."
1976 - Britain and France opened transatlantic Concorde service to Washington.
1977 - in a surprise move, the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.
1980 - Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
1819 - Queen Victoria was born in London.
1830 - the first passenger railroad in the United States began service between Baltimore and Elliott's Mills, Maryland.
1881 - some 200 people died when the Canadian ferry "Princess Victoria" sank near London, Ontario.
1883 - the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.
1935 - the first major league baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-to-1.
1941 - the German battleship "Bismarck" sank the British dreadnought "Hood" in the North Atlantic.
1962 - astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard "Aurora Seven."
1976 - Britain and France opened transatlantic Concorde service to Washington.
1977 - in a surprise move, the Kremlin ousted Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo.
1980 - Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
This Day In History for May 23
1960 - Israel announced it had captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. (Eichmann was tried in Israel, found guilty of crimes against humanity, and hanged in 1962.)
1430 - Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
1533 - the marriage of England's King Henry the Eighth to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.
1701 - Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after he was convicted of piracy and murder.
1788 - South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1915 - Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War One.
1934 - bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
1937 - industrialist John D. Rockefeller died in Ormond Beach, Florida.
1940 - Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, the Pied Pipers and featured soloist Frank Sinatra recorded "I'll Never Smile Again" in New York for RCA.
1945 - Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
1998 - official returns showed two convincing "yes" votes for the Northern Ireland peace accord in British-linked Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
1430 - Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
1533 - the marriage of England's King Henry the Eighth to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.
1701 - Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after he was convicted of piracy and murder.
1788 - South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1915 - Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War One.
1934 - bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
1937 - industrialist John D. Rockefeller died in Ormond Beach, Florida.
1940 - Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, the Pied Pipers and featured soloist Frank Sinatra recorded "I'll Never Smile Again" in New York for RCA.
1945 - Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
1998 - official returns showed two convincing "yes" votes for the Northern Ireland peace accord in British-linked Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
This Day in History for May 22
1693 - French again destroy Heidelberg, Germany, and ravage the Rhineland.
1761 - The first life insurance policy in the United States is issued, in Philadelphia.
1819 - The American steamboat Savannah makes its first trans-Atlantic crossing.
1833 - A new constitution in Chile gives greater power to the president and establishes Roman Catholicism as state religion.
1822 - United States and Korea sign treaty of peace and friendship.
1840 - Transportation of British convicts to New South Wales officially ends.
1867 - Canada becomes the first dominion of the British Empire, gaining a parliament, cabinet and large measure of independence.
1868 - The Great Train Robbery takes place near Marshfield, Indiana, as seven members of the Reno gang make off with $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds.
1914 - Britain acquires control of oil properties in Gulf from Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1939 - Germany's Adolf Hitler and Italy's Benito Mussolini sign "Pact of Steel," a 10-year political and military alliance.
1967 - Communist-led riots take place in Hong Kong against British.
1969 - The lunar module of Apollo 10 separates from the command module and flies to within 14 kilometers (nine miles) of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
1972 - Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit Russia, where he signs a pact with Leonid Brezhnev to reduce the risk of military confrontation; the island nation of Ceylon becomes the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka with the adoption of a new constitution.
1975 - White-ruled African nation of Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, is expelled from Olympics because of its racial policies.
1984 - Soviet forces continue to bomb the access route to the Panjshir Valley in northern Afghanistan while pursuing a diplomatic solution to the 4-year-old struggle against guerrillas.
1985 - A car bomb explodes in a Beirut suburb, killing 60 people and wounding 190 others.
1989 - India successfully test fires its first medium-range surface-to-surface missile.
1990 - After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merge to form the Republic of Yemen.
1991 - India's Congress Party offers party leadership to Sonia Gandhi, widow of assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, but she refuses, only to take it up in 1998.
1992 - The United States slaps political and diplomatic sanctions against Serbia for perpetuating a "humanitarian nightmare" in the Balkans.
1993 - Cambodians vote in first multiparty elections in 21 years.
1994 - Tutsi rebels capture international airport in Rwanda's capital and overrun military base nearby.
1995 - Half a million Poles turn out to catch a glimpse of their native son Pope John Paul II during his 10-hour visit in southern Poland.
1996 - American and French planes carry foreigners out of Bangui, Central African Republic, as President Ange-Felix Patasse rejects army mutineers' demands that he resign.
1997 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his defense minister and several top generals for their resistance to budget cuts and military restructuring.
1761 - The first life insurance policy in the United States is issued, in Philadelphia.
1819 - The American steamboat Savannah makes its first trans-Atlantic crossing.
1833 - A new constitution in Chile gives greater power to the president and establishes Roman Catholicism as state religion.
1822 - United States and Korea sign treaty of peace and friendship.
1840 - Transportation of British convicts to New South Wales officially ends.
1867 - Canada becomes the first dominion of the British Empire, gaining a parliament, cabinet and large measure of independence.
1868 - The Great Train Robbery takes place near Marshfield, Indiana, as seven members of the Reno gang make off with $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds.
1914 - Britain acquires control of oil properties in Gulf from Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1939 - Germany's Adolf Hitler and Italy's Benito Mussolini sign "Pact of Steel," a 10-year political and military alliance.
1967 - Communist-led riots take place in Hong Kong against British.
1969 - The lunar module of Apollo 10 separates from the command module and flies to within 14 kilometers (nine miles) of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
1972 - Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit Russia, where he signs a pact with Leonid Brezhnev to reduce the risk of military confrontation; the island nation of Ceylon becomes the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka with the adoption of a new constitution.
1975 - White-ruled African nation of Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, is expelled from Olympics because of its racial policies.
1984 - Soviet forces continue to bomb the access route to the Panjshir Valley in northern Afghanistan while pursuing a diplomatic solution to the 4-year-old struggle against guerrillas.
1985 - A car bomb explodes in a Beirut suburb, killing 60 people and wounding 190 others.
1989 - India successfully test fires its first medium-range surface-to-surface missile.
1990 - After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merge to form the Republic of Yemen.
1991 - India's Congress Party offers party leadership to Sonia Gandhi, widow of assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, but she refuses, only to take it up in 1998.
1992 - The United States slaps political and diplomatic sanctions against Serbia for perpetuating a "humanitarian nightmare" in the Balkans.
1993 - Cambodians vote in first multiparty elections in 21 years.
1994 - Tutsi rebels capture international airport in Rwanda's capital and overrun military base nearby.
1995 - Half a million Poles turn out to catch a glimpse of their native son Pope John Paul II during his 10-hour visit in southern Poland.
1996 - American and French planes carry foreigners out of Bangui, Central African Republic, as President Ange-Felix Patasse rejects army mutineers' demands that he resign.
1997 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his defense minister and several top generals for their resistance to budget cuts and military restructuring.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
This Day in History for May 18
1980 - the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
On this date:
1642 - the Canadian city of Montreal was founded.
1804 - the French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.
1896 - the Supreme Court endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation with its "Plessy versus Ferguson" decision, a ruling that was overturned 58 years later.
1897 - a public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel, "Dracula, or, The Un-dead," was staged in London.
1926 - evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, California; she reappeared a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped.
1933 - the Tennessee Valley Authority was created.
1951 - the United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, New York, for its permanent home in Manhattan.
1953 - Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over Rogers Dry Lake, California.
1969 - astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blasted off aboard "Apollo Ten."
1980 - in the South Korean city of Kwangju, townspeople and students began a nine-day uprising that was finally put down by troops.
On this date:
1642 - the Canadian city of Montreal was founded.
1804 - the French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.
1896 - the Supreme Court endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation with its "Plessy versus Ferguson" decision, a ruling that was overturned 58 years later.
1897 - a public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel, "Dracula, or, The Un-dead," was staged in London.
1926 - evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, California; she reappeared a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped.
1933 - the Tennessee Valley Authority was created.
1951 - the United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, New York, for its permanent home in Manhattan.
1953 - Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over Rogers Dry Lake, California.
1969 - astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blasted off aboard "Apollo Ten."
1980 - in the South Korean city of Kwangju, townspeople and students began a nine-day uprising that was finally put down by troops.
Monday, May 17, 2010
This Day in History for May 17
1792 - the New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting under a tree located on what is now Wall Street.
1875 - the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was "Aristides."
1938 - Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.
1939 - Britain's King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns.
1940 - the Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War Two.
1946 - President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.
1948 - the Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.
1954 - the Supreme Court ruled in its "Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka" decision that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal.
1973 - the Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal.
1980 - rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami's Liberty City after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie.
1987 - 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the US Navy frigate "Stark" in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq and the US called the attack a mistake.)
1875 - the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was "Aristides."
1938 - Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.
1939 - Britain's King George the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns.
1940 - the Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War Two.
1946 - President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.
1948 - the Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.
1954 - the Supreme Court ruled in its "Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka" decision that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal.
1973 - the Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal.
1980 - rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami's Liberty City after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie.
1987 - 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the US Navy frigate "Stark" in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq and the US called the attack a mistake.)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
This Day In History for May 16
1929 - the first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The movie "Wings" won "best production" while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.
1770 - Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis the 16th of France, who was 15.
1866 - Congress authorized minting of the five-cent piece.
1868 - the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of eleven articles of impeachment against him.
1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.
1946 - the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.
1948 - the body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonica Harbor in Greece, several days after he'd left his hotel for an interview with the leader of a Communist militia.
1960 - a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the US in the wake of the U-2 incident.
1965 - the musical play "The Roar of the Greasepaint -- the Smell of the Crowd" opened on Broadway.
1975 - Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1977 - five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.
1770 - Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis the 16th of France, who was 15.
1866 - Congress authorized minting of the five-cent piece.
1868 - the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of eleven articles of impeachment against him.
1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.
1946 - the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.
1948 - the body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonica Harbor in Greece, several days after he'd left his hotel for an interview with the leader of a Communist militia.
1960 - a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the US in the wake of the U-2 incident.
1965 - the musical play "The Roar of the Greasepaint -- the Smell of the Crowd" opened on Broadway.
1975 - Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1977 - five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
This Day In History for May 15
1972 - George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, for the Democratic presidential nomination.
1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.
1886 - poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Massachusetts.
1911 - the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1918 - US airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
1930 - Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
1940 - nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States.
1942 - gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.
1963 - US astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard "Faith Seven" on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.
1969 - Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned amid a controversy over his past legal fees.
1970 - Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.
1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.
1886 - poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Massachusetts.
1911 - the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1918 - US airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
1930 - Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
1940 - nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States.
1942 - gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.
1963 - US astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard "Faith Seven" on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.
1969 - Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned amid a controversy over his past legal fees.
1970 - Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.
Friday, May 14, 2010
This Day In History for May 14
1980 - President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.
On this date:
1643 - Louis the 14th became King of France at age four upon the death of his father, Louis the 13th.
1804 - the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis.
1904 - the first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis.
1942 - Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was first performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
1942 - the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps was established.
1948 - the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv.
1955 - representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.
1973 - the United States launched Skylab One, its first manned space station.
1975 - US forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 US servicemen were killed in the military operation.
1998 - singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82.
On this date:
1643 - Louis the 14th became King of France at age four upon the death of his father, Louis the 13th.
1804 - the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis.
1904 - the first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis.
1942 - Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was first performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
1942 - the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps was established.
1948 - the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv.
1955 - representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.
1973 - the United States launched Skylab One, its first manned space station.
1975 - US forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 US servicemen were killed in the military operation.
1998 - singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
This Day in History for May 13
1940 - in his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told Parliament, \"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.\"
1607 - English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).
1846 - the United States declared that a state of war already existed with Mexico.
1917 - three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.
1918 - the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were issued to the public. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was inadvertently printed upside-down, making them collector\'s items.)
1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act. The musical play \"The Pajama Game\" opened on Broadway.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
1968 - a one-day general strike took place in France in support of student protesters.
1981 - Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter\'s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca (MEH\'-met AH\'-lee AH\'-juh).
1985 - a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group\'s row house; 11 people, including founder John Africa, died in the resulting fire that destroyed 61 homes.
1994 - President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun.
1607 - English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).
1846 - the United States declared that a state of war already existed with Mexico.
1917 - three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.
1918 - the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were issued to the public. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was inadvertently printed upside-down, making them collector\'s items.)
1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act. The musical play \"The Pajama Game\" opened on Broadway.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
1968 - a one-day general strike took place in France in support of student protesters.
1981 - Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter\'s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca (MEH\'-met AH\'-lee AH\'-juh).
1985 - a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group\'s row house; 11 people, including founder John Africa, died in the resulting fire that destroyed 61 homes.
1994 - President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
This Day in History for May 12
1949 - the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.
1870 - an act creating the Canadian province of Manitoba was given royal assent, to take effect in July.
1930 - Chicago\'s Adler Planetarium first opened to the public.
1932 - the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, N.J.
1937 - Britain\'s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1943 - during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
1958 - the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD for short).
1970 - the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.
1975 - the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters.
1978 - the Commerce Department said hurricanes would no longer be given only female names.
1982 - in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (2008 - the pope\'s longtime private secretary revealed the pontiff was slightly wounded.)
1870 - an act creating the Canadian province of Manitoba was given royal assent, to take effect in July.
1930 - Chicago\'s Adler Planetarium first opened to the public.
1932 - the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, N.J.
1937 - Britain\'s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1943 - during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
1958 - the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD for short).
1970 - the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.
1975 - the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters.
1978 - the Commerce Department said hurricanes would no longer be given only female names.
1982 - in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (2008 - the pope\'s longtime private secretary revealed the pontiff was slightly wounded.)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
This Day in History for May 11
1910 - Glacier National Park in Montana was established.
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.
1858 - Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.
1935 - the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt\'s New Deal programs.
1946 - the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.
1950 - President Harry S. Truman formally dedicated the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state.
1960 - in the wake of the U-2 incident, President Dwight D. Eisenhower defended intelligence-gathering activities as \"distasteful\" but necessary, saying \"no one wants another Pearl Harbor.\"
1973 - charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the \"Pentagon Papers\" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.
1985 - 56 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.
1996 - an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.
1858 - Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.
1935 - the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt\'s New Deal programs.
1946 - the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.
1950 - President Harry S. Truman formally dedicated the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state.
1960 - in the wake of the U-2 incident, President Dwight D. Eisenhower defended intelligence-gathering activities as \"distasteful\" but necessary, saying \"no one wants another Pearl Harbor.\"
1973 - charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the \"Pentagon Papers\" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.
1985 - 56 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.
1996 - an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.
Monday, May 10, 2010
This Day in History for May 10
1940 - during World War II, German forces began invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.
1760 - Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, who wrote the French national anthem "La Marseillaise," was born.
1774 - Louis XVI acceded to the throne of France.
1775 - Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Col. Benedict Arnold, captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y.
1865 - Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Ga.
1869 - a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director.
1933 - the Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.
1960 - the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton completed its submerged navigation of the globe.
1978 - Britain's Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.
1984 - the International Court of Justice said the United States should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports (the U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue).
1760 - Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, who wrote the French national anthem "La Marseillaise," was born.
1774 - Louis XVI acceded to the throne of France.
1775 - Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Col. Benedict Arnold, captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y.
1865 - Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Irwinville, Ga.
1869 - a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director.
1933 - the Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.
1960 - the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton completed its submerged navigation of the globe.
1978 - Britain's Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.
1984 - the International Court of Justice said the United States should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports (the U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue).
Sunday, May 9, 2010
This Day in History for May 9
1960 - the Food and Drug Administration approved a pill as safe for birth control use. (The pill, Enovid, was made by G.D. Searle and Company of Chicago.)
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1754 - a cartoon in Benjamin Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette" showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."
1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.
1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - US officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters
1974 - the House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.
1978 - the bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 14-hundred-foot section to collapse.
1994 - South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1754 - a cartoon in Benjamin Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette" showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."
1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.
1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - US officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters
1974 - the House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.
1978 - the bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 14-hundred-foot section to collapse.
1994 - South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
This Day in History for May 8
1945 - President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that Nazi Germany's forces had surrendered in World War II, and that "the flags of freedom fly all over Europe."
1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.
1794 - Antoine Lavoisier (lah-vwahz-YAY'), the father of modern chemistry, was executed on the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror.
1846 - the first major battle of the Mexican-American War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas; U.S. forces led by Gen. Zachary Taylor were able to beat back the Mexican forces.
1884 - the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was born in Lamar, Mo.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.
1962 - the musical comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" opened on Broadway.
1970 - antiwar protests took place across the United States and around the world; in New York, construction workers broke up a demonstration on Wall Street.
1973 - militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks surrendered.
1978 - David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to murder, attempted murder and assault in connection with the "Son of Sam" shootings that had terrified New Yorkers.
1984 - the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.
1794 - Antoine Lavoisier (lah-vwahz-YAY'), the father of modern chemistry, was executed on the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror.
1846 - the first major battle of the Mexican-American War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas; U.S. forces led by Gen. Zachary Taylor were able to beat back the Mexican forces.
1884 - the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was born in Lamar, Mo.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.
1962 - the musical comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" opened on Broadway.
1970 - antiwar protests took place across the United States and around the world; in New York, construction workers broke up a demonstration on Wall Street.
1973 - militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks surrendered.
1978 - David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to murder, attempted murder and assault in connection with the "Son of Sam" shootings that had terrified New Yorkers.
1984 - the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Friday, May 7, 2010
This Day In History for May 7
1975 - President Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era." In Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.
1789 - the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. George Washington.
1847 - the American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia.
1915 - nearly 1200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner "Lusitania" off the Irish coast.
1939 - Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
1945 - Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.
1954 - the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.
1960 - Leonid Brezhnev replaced Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as president of the Supreme Soviet.
1963 - the United States launched the Telstar Two communications satellite.
1984 - a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the "Agent Orange" class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they'd suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
1994 - Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum.
1789 - the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. George Washington.
1847 - the American Medical Association was founded in Philadelphia.
1915 - nearly 1200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner "Lusitania" off the Irish coast.
1939 - Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
1945 - Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.
1954 - the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.
1960 - Leonid Brezhnev replaced Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as president of the Supreme Soviet.
1963 - the United States launched the Telstar Two communications satellite.
1984 - a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the "Agent Orange" class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they'd suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
1994 - Norway's most famous painting, "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from an Oslo museum.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
This Day In History for May 6
1937 - the hydrogen-filled German dirigible "Hindenburg" burned and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.
1861 - Arkansas seceded from the Union.
1889 - the Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.
1910 - Britain's King Edward the Seventh died.
1935 - the Works Progress Administration began operating.
1942 - during World War Two, some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.
1954 - medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in three minutes, 59.4 seconds.
1960 - Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. (They divorced in 1978.)
1992 - actress Marlene Dietrich died at her Paris home at age 90.
1994 - former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)
1994 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second and French President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel between their countries.
1861 - Arkansas seceded from the Union.
1889 - the Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.
1910 - Britain's King Edward the Seventh died.
1935 - the Works Progress Administration began operating.
1942 - during World War Two, some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.
1954 - medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in three minutes, 59.4 seconds.
1960 - Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. (They divorced in 1978.)
1992 - actress Marlene Dietrich died at her Paris home at age 90.
1994 - former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)
1994 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second and French President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel between their countries.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
This Day in History for May 5
1961 - astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute sub-orbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.
1862 - Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla.
1891 - Carnegie Hall (then named "Music Hall") had its official opening night in New York City.
1920 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested in the shooting deaths of a paymaster and security guard during a robbery at a shoe factory in Braintree, Mass. (Sacco and Vanzetti were later convicted and executed amid an international outcry.)
1925 - schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)
1942 - during World War II, Japanese forces landed on the Philippine island of Corregidor.
1955 - West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway.
1960 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced his country had shot down an American U-2 plane which the U.S. claimed was conducting weather studies over Turkey. (The U.S. cover story fell apart two days later when Khrushchev announced that the U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, had survived.)
1980 - a siege at the Iranian embassy in London by armed men demanding the release of political prisoners in Iran ended as British forces stormed the building, killing four of the five hostage-takers. Nineteen hostages were rescued; two had already been killed by their captors.
1985 - President Ronald Reagan kept a controversial promise to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by leading a wreath-laying ceremony at the military cemetery in Bitburg.
1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.
1862 - Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla.
1891 - Carnegie Hall (then named "Music Hall") had its official opening night in New York City.
1920 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested in the shooting deaths of a paymaster and security guard during a robbery at a shoe factory in Braintree, Mass. (Sacco and Vanzetti were later convicted and executed amid an international outcry.)
1925 - schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)
1942 - during World War II, Japanese forces landed on the Philippine island of Corregidor.
1955 - West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway.
1960 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced his country had shot down an American U-2 plane which the U.S. claimed was conducting weather studies over Turkey. (The U.S. cover story fell apart two days later when Khrushchev announced that the U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, had survived.)
1980 - a siege at the Iranian embassy in London by armed men demanding the release of political prisoners in Iran ended as British forces stormed the building, killing four of the five hostage-takers. Nineteen hostages were rescued; two had already been killed by their captors.
1985 - President Ronald Reagan kept a controversial promise to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by leading a wreath-laying ceremony at the military cemetery in Bitburg.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
This Day in History for May 4
1970 - Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. (Two of the students who died, Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller, had been participating in the demonstration while the other two, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, were passersby en route to their next classes.)
1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island.
1886 - at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour work day turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded.
1904 - the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal.
1916 - responding to a demand from President Woodrow Wilson, Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare. (However, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare the following year.)
1932 - mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone was later transferred to Alcatraz Island.)
1945 - during World War II, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.
1946 - a two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended, the violence having claimed five lives.
1960 - actress-comedian Lucille Ball divorced her husband, Desi Arnaz, after 20 years of marriage.
1961 - a group of "Freedom Riders" left Washington, D.C. for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.
1980 - Marshal Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, died three days before his 88th birthday.
1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island.
1886 - at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour work day turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded.
1904 - the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal.
1916 - responding to a demand from President Woodrow Wilson, Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare. (However, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare the following year.)
1932 - mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone was later transferred to Alcatraz Island.)
1945 - during World War II, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.
1946 - a two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended, the violence having claimed five lives.
1960 - actress-comedian Lucille Ball divorced her husband, Desi Arnaz, after 20 years of marriage.
1961 - a group of "Freedom Riders" left Washington, D.C. for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.
1980 - Marshal Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, died three days before his 88th birthday.
Monday, May 3, 2010
This Day In History for May 3
1999 - tornadoes roared across Oklahoma and Kansas, killing at least four dozen people and injuring hundreds.
1654 - a bridge in Rowley, Massachusetts, was permitted to charge a toll for animals, while people crossed for free.
1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.
1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.
1944 - US wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended.
1945 - dian forces captured Rangoon - Burma, from the Japanese.
1948 - the Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups were legally unenforceable.
1971 - anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington DC aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.
1978 - "Sun Day" fell on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country.
1979 - Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain's first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.
1986 - in NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.
1654 - a bridge in Rowley, Massachusetts, was permitted to charge a toll for animals, while people crossed for free.
1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.
1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.
1944 - US wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended.
1945 - dian forces captured Rangoon - Burma, from the Japanese.
1948 - the Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups were legally unenforceable.
1971 - anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington DC aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.
1978 - "Sun Day" fell on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country.
1979 - Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain's first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.
1986 - in NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
This Day In History for May 2
1863 - Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later.
1519 - artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France.
1670 - the Hudson Bay Company was chartered by England's King Charles the Second.
1890 - the Oklahoma Territory was organized.
1936 - "Peter and the Wolf," a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.
1945 - the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.
1957 - Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, the controversial Republican senator from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
1960 - convicted sex offender and best-selling author Caryl Chessman was executed at San Quentin Prison in California.
1965 - the "Early Bird" satellite was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.
1972 - after serving 48 years as head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.
1994 - Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
1519 - artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France.
1670 - the Hudson Bay Company was chartered by England's King Charles the Second.
1890 - the Oklahoma Territory was organized.
1936 - "Peter and the Wolf," a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.
1945 - the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.
1957 - Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, the controversial Republican senator from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
1960 - convicted sex offender and best-selling author Caryl Chessman was executed at San Quentin Prison in California.
1965 - the "Early Bird" satellite was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.
1972 - after serving 48 years as head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.
1994 - Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
This Day in History for April 28
1758 - the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born in Westmoreland County, Va.
1788 - Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the US Constitution.
1789 - the mutiny on HMS Bounty took place as the crew of the British ship set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. (Bligh and most of the men with him managed to reach Timor in 47 days.)
1918 - Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the archduke’s wife, Sophie, in 1914, died in prison of tuberculosis.
1940 - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded “Pennsylvania 6-5000’’ for RCA Victor.
1945 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a good will tour of Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima and Caracas.
1967 - heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland told Congress the United States “would prevail in Vietnam.’’
1980 - President Jimmy Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing US hostages in Iran. (Vance was succeeded by Edmund Muskie.)
1988 - a flight attendant was killed and more than 60 persons injured when part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 tore off during a flight from Hilo to Honolulu.
1990 - the musical “A Chorus Line’’ closed after 6,137 performances on Broadway.
2000 - five people, targeted for being minorities, were killed in a shooting rampage in suburban Pittsburgh; a suspect, Richard Baumhammers, was arrested. (He was later convicted and sentenced to death.)
2005 - a military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., sentenced Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar to death for the 2003 murders of two officers in Kuwait. More than 100 volunteers joined police in Duluth, Ga., in searching for Jennifer Wilbanks, a bride-to-be who had vanished two days earlier. (Wilbanks turned up in Albuquerque, having run away on her own.)
1788 - Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the US Constitution.
1789 - the mutiny on HMS Bounty took place as the crew of the British ship set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. (Bligh and most of the men with him managed to reach Timor in 47 days.)
1918 - Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the archduke’s wife, Sophie, in 1914, died in prison of tuberculosis.
1940 - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded “Pennsylvania 6-5000’’ for RCA Victor.
1945 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.
1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a good will tour of Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima and Caracas.
1967 - heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland told Congress the United States “would prevail in Vietnam.’’
1980 - President Jimmy Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing US hostages in Iran. (Vance was succeeded by Edmund Muskie.)
1988 - a flight attendant was killed and more than 60 persons injured when part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 tore off during a flight from Hilo to Honolulu.
1990 - the musical “A Chorus Line’’ closed after 6,137 performances on Broadway.
2000 - five people, targeted for being minorities, were killed in a shooting rampage in suburban Pittsburgh; a suspect, Richard Baumhammers, was arrested. (He was later convicted and sentenced to death.)
2005 - a military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., sentenced Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar to death for the 2003 murders of two officers in Kuwait. More than 100 volunteers joined police in Duluth, Ga., in searching for Jennifer Wilbanks, a bride-to-be who had vanished two days earlier. (Wilbanks turned up in Albuquerque, having run away on her own.)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
This Day in History for April 27
1960 - the Food and Drug Administration approved a pill as safe for birth control use. (The pill, Enovid, was made by G.D. Searle and Company of Chicago.)
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1754 - a cartoon in Benjamin Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette" showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."
1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.
1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - US officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters
1974 - the House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.
1978 - the bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 14-hundred-foot section to collapse.
1994 - South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1754 - a cartoon in Benjamin Franklin's "Pennsylvania Gazette" showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die."
1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly over the North Pole.
1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - US officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters
1974 - the House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.
1978 - the bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - 35 motorists were killed when a Liberian freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 14-hundred-foot section to collapse.
1994 - South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.
Monday, April 26, 2010
This Day in History for April 26
1865 - John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va., and killed.
1937 - planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
1945 - Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France’s Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.
1980 - following an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to rescue the US Embassy hostages in Iran, the Tehran government announced the captives were being scattered to thwart any future rescue effort.
1986 - the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union.
2000 - Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.
2005 - Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended. Actress Maria Schell died in Preitenegg, Carinthia, Austria, at 79.
1937 - planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
1945 - Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France’s Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.
1980 - following an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to rescue the US Embassy hostages in Iran, the Tehran government announced the captives were being scattered to thwart any future rescue effort.
1986 - the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union.
2000 - Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.
2005 - Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended. Actress Maria Schell died in Preitenegg, Carinthia, Austria, at 79.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
This Day in History - April 18
1775 - Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning American colonists that the British were coming.
1906 - a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires. About 700 people died.
1942 - an air squadron from the USS "Hornet" led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
1945 - famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.
1946 - the League of Nations went out of business.
1949 - the Irish republic was proclaimed.
1955 - physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey.
1978 - the US Senate voted 68-to-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31st, 1999.
1980 - Zimbabwe Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe.
1983 - 62 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
1994 - former President Nixon suffered a stroke at his home in Park Ridge, New Jersey; he died four days later at a New York hospital.
1906 - a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires. About 700 people died.
1942 - an air squadron from the USS "Hornet" led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
1945 - famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.
1946 - the League of Nations went out of business.
1949 - the Irish republic was proclaimed.
1955 - physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey.
1978 - the US Senate voted 68-to-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31st, 1999.
1980 - Zimbabwe Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe.
1983 - 62 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
1994 - former President Nixon suffered a stroke at his home in Park Ridge, New Jersey; he died four days later at a New York hospital.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
This Day in History for April 17
1961 - about 1500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.
1492 - a contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.
1790 - American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.
1861 - the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.
1941 - Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War Two.
1964 - Ford Motor Company unveiled its new "Mustang" model.
1969 - a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 - Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed.
1970 - the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft.
1975 - Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's five-year war.
1998 - photographer Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney, died in Tucson, Arizona, at age 56.
1492 - a contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.
1790 - American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.
1861 - the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.
1941 - Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War Two.
1964 - Ford Motor Company unveiled its new "Mustang" model.
1969 - a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 - Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed.
1970 - the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft.
1975 - Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's five-year war.
1998 - photographer Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney, died in Tucson, Arizona, at age 56.
Friday, April 16, 2010
This Day in History for April 16
1947 - financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse: "Let us not be deceived -- we are today in the midst of a cold war."
1789 - President-elect Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.
1862 - a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.
1912 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
1917 - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
1935 - the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.
1945 - in his first speech to Congress, President Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Roosevelt.
1945 - US troops reached Nuremberg, Germany, during the Second World War.
1947 - the French ship "Grandcamp" blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the "Highflyer," exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed 576 people.
1962 - Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
1972 - Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
1789 - President-elect Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.
1862 - a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.
1912 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
1917 - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
1935 - the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.
1945 - in his first speech to Congress, President Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Roosevelt.
1945 - US troops reached Nuremberg, Germany, during the Second World War.
1947 - the French ship "Grandcamp" blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the "Highflyer," exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed 576 people.
1962 - Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
1972 - Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
This Day in History for April 15
1912 - the British luxury liner "Titanic" sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg. About 1500 people died.
1817 - the first American school for the deaf opened in Hartford, Connecticut.
1850 - the city of San Francisco was incorporated.
1861 - three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops.
1865 - President Lincoln died, several hours after he was shot at Ford's Theater in Washington by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson became the nation's 17th president.
1945 - during World War Two, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.
1959 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived in Washington to begin a goodwill tour of the United States.
1986 - the United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April fifth; Libya says 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
1980 - existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre died in Paris at the age of 74.
1989 - ninety-five people died in a crush of soccer fans at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England.
1998 - Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 73, evading prosecution for the deaths of two million Cambodians.
1817 - the first American school for the deaf opened in Hartford, Connecticut.
1850 - the city of San Francisco was incorporated.
1861 - three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops.
1865 - President Lincoln died, several hours after he was shot at Ford's Theater in Washington by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson became the nation's 17th president.
1945 - during World War Two, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.
1959 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived in Washington to begin a goodwill tour of the United States.
1986 - the United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April fifth; Libya says 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
1980 - existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre died in Paris at the age of 74.
1989 - ninety-five people died in a crush of soccer fans at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England.
1998 - Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 73, evading prosecution for the deaths of two million Cambodians.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
This Day in History for April 14
1865 - President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington. (Lincoln died the following morning.)
1759 - composer George Frideric Handel died in London.
1828 - the first edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language" was published.
1902 - J.C. Penney opened his first store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1912 - the British liner "Titanic" collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began sinking.
1931 - King Alfonso the 13th of Spain went into exile, and the Spanish Republic was proclaimed.
1939 - the John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published.
1956 - Ampex Corporation demonstrated its first commercial videotape recorder.
1981 - the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle, the "Columbia," ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
1986 - Americans got first word of a US air raid on Libya (because of the time difference, it was the early morning of April 15th where the attack occurred.)
1994 - the chiefs of the nation's seven largest tobacco companies spent more than six hours being grilled by the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee about the effects of smoking.
1759 - composer George Frideric Handel died in London.
1828 - the first edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language" was published.
1902 - J.C. Penney opened his first store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1912 - the British liner "Titanic" collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began sinking.
1931 - King Alfonso the 13th of Spain went into exile, and the Spanish Republic was proclaimed.
1939 - the John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published.
1956 - Ampex Corporation demonstrated its first commercial videotape recorder.
1981 - the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle, the "Columbia," ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
1986 - Americans got first word of a US air raid on Libya (because of the time difference, it was the early morning of April 15th where the attack occurred.)
1994 - the chiefs of the nation's seven largest tobacco companies spent more than six hours being grilled by the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee about the effects of smoking.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
This Day in History for April 13
1970 - "Apollo 13," four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)
1742 - Handel's "Messiah" was first performed publicly, in Dublin, Ireland.
1743 - the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born.
1870 - the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York.
1943 - President Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial.
1958 - Van Cliburn became the first American to win the Tchaikovsky International Piano Contest in Moscow.
1964 - Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for "Lilies of the Field."
1986 - Pope John Paul the Second visited a Rome synagogue in the first recorded papal visit of its kind.
1981 - Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about an eight-year-old heroin addict named "Jimmy"; however, Cooke relinquished the prize two days later, admitting she'd fabricated the story.
1992 - the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city's century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River.
1997 - Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first player of at least partly African heritage to claim a major golf title.
1742 - Handel's "Messiah" was first performed publicly, in Dublin, Ireland.
1743 - the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born.
1870 - the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York.
1943 - President Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial.
1958 - Van Cliburn became the first American to win the Tchaikovsky International Piano Contest in Moscow.
1964 - Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for "Lilies of the Field."
1986 - Pope John Paul the Second visited a Rome synagogue in the first recorded papal visit of its kind.
1981 - Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about an eight-year-old heroin addict named "Jimmy"; however, Cooke relinquished the prize two days later, admitting she'd fabricated the story.
1992 - the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city's century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River.
1997 - Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first player of at least partly African heritage to claim a major golf title.
Monday, April 12, 2010
This Day in History for April 12
1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
On this date:
In 1606, England adopted as its flag the original version of the Union Jack.
In 1862, Union volunteers led by James J. Andrews stole a Confederate train near Marietta, Georgia, but were later caught. (This episode inspired the Buster Keaton comedy "The General.")
In 1934, "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.
In 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.
In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.
In 1989, radical activist Abbie Hoffman was found dead at his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, at age 52.
In 1989, former middleweight boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died in Culver City, California, at age 67.
In 1992, Euro Disneyland opened in France.
On this date:
In 1606, England adopted as its flag the original version of the Union Jack.
In 1862, Union volunteers led by James J. Andrews stole a Confederate train near Marietta, Georgia, but were later caught. (This episode inspired the Buster Keaton comedy "The General.")
In 1934, "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.
In 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.
In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.
In 1989, radical activist Abbie Hoffman was found dead at his home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, at age 52.
In 1989, former middleweight boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died in Culver City, California, at age 67.
In 1992, Euro Disneyland opened in France.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
This Day In History for April 11
1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. (Although the spacecraft was crippled when an oxygen tank ruptured in mid-flight, the crew managed to return safely.)
In 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.
In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba.
In 1898, as tensions with Spain continued to rise, President William McKinley asked Congress to authorize military intervention in Cuba.
In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.
In 1921, Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax, at 2 cents a package.
In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.
In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East.
In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian (tan-zuh-NEE'-uhn) forces seized control.
In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations specifically prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors.
In 2001, ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane.
In 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.
In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba.
In 1898, as tensions with Spain continued to rise, President William McKinley asked Congress to authorize military intervention in Cuba.
In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.
In 1921, Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax, at 2 cents a package.
In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.
In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East.
In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian (tan-zuh-NEE'-uhn) forces seized control.
In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations specifically prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors.
In 2001, ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
This Day in History for April 10
1925, the novel "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published by Scribner's of New York.
On this date:
In 1847, American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer was born in Mako, Hungary.
In 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.
In 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.
In 1932, German president Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.
In 1953, the three-dimensional horror movie "House of Wax," produced by Warner Brothers and starring Vincent Price, premiered in New York.
In 1959, Japan's Crown Prince Akihito married a commoner, Michiko Shoda.
In 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS "Thresher" failed to surface off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.
In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.
In 1974, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel.
In 1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.
On this date:
In 1847, American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer was born in Mako, Hungary.
In 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.
In 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.
In 1932, German president Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.
In 1953, the three-dimensional horror movie "House of Wax," produced by Warner Brothers and starring Vincent Price, premiered in New York.
In 1959, Japan's Crown Prince Akihito married a commoner, Michiko Shoda.
In 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS "Thresher" failed to surface off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.
In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.
In 1974, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel.
In 1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.
Friday, April 9, 2010
This Day in History for April 9
1667: First ever public art exhibition opens in Paris.
1682: La Salle claims lower Mississippi (Louisiana) for France.
1770: Capt James Cook discovers Botany Bay (Australia).
1865: The American Civil War ends with the surrender of the Confederate forces.
1940: German forces invade Denmark and Norway during World War 2.
1947: Atomic Energy Commission formed.
1957: The Suez Canal, Egypt, is cleared and opens to shipping.
1980: Israeli troops move into Leanon.
1991: Georgia votes to seceede from the USSR.
1682: La Salle claims lower Mississippi (Louisiana) for France.
1770: Capt James Cook discovers Botany Bay (Australia).
1865: The American Civil War ends with the surrender of the Confederate forces.
1940: German forces invade Denmark and Norway during World War 2.
1947: Atomic Energy Commission formed.
1957: The Suez Canal, Egypt, is cleared and opens to shipping.
1980: Israeli troops move into Leanon.
1991: Georgia votes to seceede from the USSR.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
This Day in History for April 8
1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's record.
On this date:
In 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain.
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration was approved by Congress.
In 1946, the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the last time.
In 1950, ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky died in London.
In 1970, the Senate rejected President Nixon's nomination of G. Harold Carswell to the US Supreme Court.
In 1973, artist Pablo Picasso died at his home near Mougins, France, at age 91.
In 1975, Frank Robinson, major league baseball's first black manager, got off to a winning start as his team, the Cleveland Indians, defeated the New York Yankees, 5-to-3.
In 1981, General Omar N. Bradley died in New York at age 88.
In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced at a New York news conference that he had AIDS. (Ashe died in February 1993 of AIDS-related pneumonia at age 49.)
In 1994, Kurt Cobain, singer and guitarist for the grunge band Nirvana, was found dead in Seattle from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was 27.
On this date:
In 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain.
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration was approved by Congress.
In 1946, the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the last time.
In 1950, ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky died in London.
In 1970, the Senate rejected President Nixon's nomination of G. Harold Carswell to the US Supreme Court.
In 1973, artist Pablo Picasso died at his home near Mougins, France, at age 91.
In 1975, Frank Robinson, major league baseball's first black manager, got off to a winning start as his team, the Cleveland Indians, defeated the New York Yankees, 5-to-3.
In 1981, General Omar N. Bradley died in New York at age 88.
In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced at a New York news conference that he had AIDS. (Ashe died in February 1993 of AIDS-related pneumonia at age 49.)
In 1994, Kurt Cobain, singer and guitarist for the grunge band Nirvana, was found dead in Seattle from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was 27.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
This Day In History for April 6
1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)
On this date:
In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York.
In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.
In 1892, author, journalist, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio.
In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.
In 1965, the United States launched the Early Bird communications satellite.
In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.
In 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1994, Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced his retirement after 24 years.
In 1998, country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville, Tennessee, home at age 55.
On this date:
In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York.
In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.
In 1892, author, journalist, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio.
In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.
In 1965, the United States launched the Early Bird communications satellite.
In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.
In 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1994, Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced his retirement after 24 years.
In 1998, country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville, Tennessee, home at age 55.
Monday, April 5, 2010
This Day In History for April 5
1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.
On this date:
In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.
In 1621, the "Mayflower" sailed from Plymouth, Massachusetts, on a return trip to England.
In 1649, Elihu Yale, the English philanthropist for whom Yale University is named, was born.
In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who'd accused the writer of homosexual practices.
In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
In 1964, Army General Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84.
In 1975, nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87.
In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72.
In 1988, a 15-day hijacking ordeal began as gunmen forced a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in Iran.
In 1997, Allen Ginsberg, the counterculture guru who shattered conventions as poet laureate of the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70.
On this date:
In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.
In 1621, the "Mayflower" sailed from Plymouth, Massachusetts, on a return trip to England.
In 1649, Elihu Yale, the English philanthropist for whom Yale University is named, was born.
In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who'd accused the writer of homosexual practices.
In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
In 1964, Army General Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84.
In 1975, nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87.
In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72.
In 1988, a 15-day hijacking ordeal began as gunmen forced a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in Iran.
In 1997, Allen Ginsberg, the counterculture guru who shattered conventions as poet laureate of the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
This Day in History - April 4
1581 - England's Queen Elizabeth I knights Francis Drake, the first English captain to circumnavigate the globe.
1611 - Denmark's King Christian IV declares war on Sweden.
1687 - James II of England orders a pro-Catholic declaration read in church. Bishops refuse and the crisis culminates in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the first U.S. president to die in office.
1844 - Germany occupies Southwest Africa, Togoland and Cameroons.
1902 - The Rhodes scholarship is established by Cecil Rhodes, empire builder and founder of Africa's Rhodesia.
1942 - Japanese naval forces sink three British warships in the Bay of Bengal during World War II.
1945 - U.S. forces liberate the Nazi death camp at Ohrdruf in Germany.
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington by foreign ministers of United States, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada for mutual assistance against aggression in the North Atlantic.
1959 - Ivory Coast signs series of agreements with Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey to form the Sahel-Benin Union.
1964 - Archbishop Makarios abrogates 1960 treaty between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, and heavy fighting erupts in northwest Cyprus.
1968 - Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
1975 - A U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes shortly after takeoff from Saigon, killing more than 130 people, most of them children.
1979 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, is hung after he is convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.
1986 - Israel formally asks for access to United Nations War Crimes Commission file on former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
1988 - Iran hammers Iraq's vital oil centers with missiles and fighter-bombers.
1990 - The National's People's Congress, China's legislature, approves the Basic Law, the constitution that will govern Hong Kong after it reverts to Chinese sovereignty in 1997; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warns republic of Estonia to rescind independence declaration.
1992 - More than 1,200 French troops, the first major contingent of a U.N. peacekeeping force, arrive in war-torn Croatia, as Bosnia mobilizes its national guard to quell violence.
1611 - Denmark's King Christian IV declares war on Sweden.
1687 - James II of England orders a pro-Catholic declaration read in church. Bishops refuse and the crisis culminates in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the first U.S. president to die in office.
1844 - Germany occupies Southwest Africa, Togoland and Cameroons.
1902 - The Rhodes scholarship is established by Cecil Rhodes, empire builder and founder of Africa's Rhodesia.
1942 - Japanese naval forces sink three British warships in the Bay of Bengal during World War II.
1945 - U.S. forces liberate the Nazi death camp at Ohrdruf in Germany.
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington by foreign ministers of United States, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada for mutual assistance against aggression in the North Atlantic.
1959 - Ivory Coast signs series of agreements with Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey to form the Sahel-Benin Union.
1964 - Archbishop Makarios abrogates 1960 treaty between Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, and heavy fighting erupts in northwest Cyprus.
1968 - Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
1975 - A U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes shortly after takeoff from Saigon, killing more than 130 people, most of them children.
1979 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, is hung after he is convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.
1986 - Israel formally asks for access to United Nations War Crimes Commission file on former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
1988 - Iran hammers Iraq's vital oil centers with missiles and fighter-bombers.
1990 - The National's People's Congress, China's legislature, approves the Basic Law, the constitution that will govern Hong Kong after it reverts to Chinese sovereignty in 1997; Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warns republic of Estonia to rescind independence declaration.
1992 - More than 1,200 French troops, the first major contingent of a U.N. peacekeeping force, arrive in war-torn Croatia, as Bosnia mobilizes its national guard to quell violence.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
This Day in History - April 3
1512 - Beyazid II, Sultan of Turkey, abdicates in favor of son, Selim I.
1559 - Peace treaty between France and Spain is signed at Cateau-Cambresis, France, leaving Spain the dominant power in Italy for the next 150 years.
1612 - Protestant Union of Germany signs defensive alliance with England.
1833 - Attempt by revolutionaries to take over Frankfurt Diet in Germany is crushed.
1865 - Union forces occupy the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War.
1882 - Jesse James, an outlaw who killed and scalped his victims and an American folk hero of sorts, is killed by a member of his own gang.
1930 - Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
1936 - Bruno Hauptmann, convicted of the kidnap and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby, is executed.
1941 - British troops evacuate Libyan port of Bengazi during World War II.
1946 - Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, is executed in the Philippines.
1948 - United States creates the Marshall Plan, allocating $5.33 billion in aid to 16 European nations to help in rebuilding after World War II.
1978 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides not to produce the neutron bomb. His decision cancels development of a weapon designed to destroy living things while leaving buildings intact.
1982 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher orders a naval task force to the Falkland islands. The islands had been British territories since 1833 and Argentina's seizure of the islands was considered an act of aggression.
1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a policy directive designed to combat international terrorism.
1988 - Iraq says its warplanes raided two Iranian oil refineries, but Iran says the bombs hit residential areas.
1990 - The Bulgarian parliament adopts legislation for free elections and appoints Petar Mladenov as president.
1991 - U.N. Security Council votes 12-1 to accept a cease-fire resolution requiring Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction and authorizing peacekeeping troops to be deployed in the region.
1992 - Communist Ramiz Alia resigns as president of Albania, two weeks after a noncommunist parliament is elected.
1995 - At least 150 Hutus, mostly women and children, are massacred in a single village in northeastern Burundi.
1996 - A U.S. Air Force military plane carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 32 others crashes outside Dubrovnik, Croatia, killing all aboard.
2000 - A U.S. judge deals a momentous legal setback to software giant Microsoft Corp., ruling that the company violated federal antitrust laws by building a monopoly and trying to take over the Web browser market.
2001 - The death toll in a meningitis outbreak in Burkina Faso tops 1,000. The government and the World Health Organization scramble to secure vaccine to control the epidemic from spreading to neighboring countries.
2003 - The World Health Organization reports 2,270 illnesses, including 79 deaths, from a spreading epidemic of a new respiratory ailment known as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
2004 - Police in southwestern France arrest two important Basque militants _ the logistics chief of the separatist group ETA Felix Ignacio Esparza Luri and former leader Felix Alberto Lopez de la Calle. The Basque Homeland and Freedom or ETA is blamed for more than 800 killings since the late 1960s with bombings and shootings aimed at carving out a Basque homeland.
2005 - Iraqi lawmakers choose a Sunni Arab as their parliament speaker, clearing a major hurdle that held up the formation of a new government two months after the country's first free elections in 50 years.
2006 - Thailand's prime minister claims victory but acknowledges a strong protest vote in an election held after weeks of demonstrations demanding his resignation for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
2007 - A French V150 train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels breaks the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) in the French countryside.
2008 - Greek and Turkish Cypriot authorities tear down barricades and open a border crossing at Ledra Street for the first time in 44 years, boosting hopes for peace talks to reunite the island.
2009 - John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi death camp guard, marks his 89th birthday by winning a reprieve of his ordered deportation from the U.S. to Germany to face possible trial.
1559 - Peace treaty between France and Spain is signed at Cateau-Cambresis, France, leaving Spain the dominant power in Italy for the next 150 years.
1612 - Protestant Union of Germany signs defensive alliance with England.
1833 - Attempt by revolutionaries to take over Frankfurt Diet in Germany is crushed.
1865 - Union forces occupy the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War.
1882 - Jesse James, an outlaw who killed and scalped his victims and an American folk hero of sorts, is killed by a member of his own gang.
1930 - Ras Tafari becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
1936 - Bruno Hauptmann, convicted of the kidnap and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby, is executed.
1941 - British troops evacuate Libyan port of Bengazi during World War II.
1946 - Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, is executed in the Philippines.
1948 - United States creates the Marshall Plan, allocating $5.33 billion in aid to 16 European nations to help in rebuilding after World War II.
1978 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides not to produce the neutron bomb. His decision cancels development of a weapon designed to destroy living things while leaving buildings intact.
1982 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher orders a naval task force to the Falkland islands. The islands had been British territories since 1833 and Argentina's seizure of the islands was considered an act of aggression.
1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a policy directive designed to combat international terrorism.
1988 - Iraq says its warplanes raided two Iranian oil refineries, but Iran says the bombs hit residential areas.
1990 - The Bulgarian parliament adopts legislation for free elections and appoints Petar Mladenov as president.
1991 - U.N. Security Council votes 12-1 to accept a cease-fire resolution requiring Iraq to destroy its weapons of mass destruction and authorizing peacekeeping troops to be deployed in the region.
1992 - Communist Ramiz Alia resigns as president of Albania, two weeks after a noncommunist parliament is elected.
1995 - At least 150 Hutus, mostly women and children, are massacred in a single village in northeastern Burundi.
1996 - A U.S. Air Force military plane carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 32 others crashes outside Dubrovnik, Croatia, killing all aboard.
2000 - A U.S. judge deals a momentous legal setback to software giant Microsoft Corp., ruling that the company violated federal antitrust laws by building a monopoly and trying to take over the Web browser market.
2001 - The death toll in a meningitis outbreak in Burkina Faso tops 1,000. The government and the World Health Organization scramble to secure vaccine to control the epidemic from spreading to neighboring countries.
2003 - The World Health Organization reports 2,270 illnesses, including 79 deaths, from a spreading epidemic of a new respiratory ailment known as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
2004 - Police in southwestern France arrest two important Basque militants _ the logistics chief of the separatist group ETA Felix Ignacio Esparza Luri and former leader Felix Alberto Lopez de la Calle. The Basque Homeland and Freedom or ETA is blamed for more than 800 killings since the late 1960s with bombings and shootings aimed at carving out a Basque homeland.
2005 - Iraqi lawmakers choose a Sunni Arab as their parliament speaker, clearing a major hurdle that held up the formation of a new government two months after the country's first free elections in 50 years.
2006 - Thailand's prime minister claims victory but acknowledges a strong protest vote in an election held after weeks of demonstrations demanding his resignation for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
2007 - A French V150 train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels breaks the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) in the French countryside.
2008 - Greek and Turkish Cypriot authorities tear down barricades and open a border crossing at Ledra Street for the first time in 44 years, boosting hopes for peace talks to reunite the island.
2009 - John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi death camp guard, marks his 89th birthday by winning a reprieve of his ordered deportation from the U.S. to Germany to face possible trial.
Friday, April 2, 2010
This Day In History for April 2
1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy." (Congress declared war four days later.)
On this date:
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in present-day Florida.
In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces.
In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)
In 1956, the soap operas "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" premiered on CBS television.
In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)
On this date:
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in present-day Florida.
In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces.
In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)
In 1956, the soap operas "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" premiered on CBS television.
In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
This Day in History - April 1
1572 - Start of Dutch War for Independence from Spain.
1666 - French forces capture St. Kitts, Leeward Islands, West Indies, from England.
1789 - The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania is elected the first House Speaker.
1852 - Second Burmese War breaks out after British ultimatum to King of Burma. It ends within the year with the British annexation of Rangoon.
1853 - Cincinnati, Ohio, becomes the first U.S. city to pay its firefighters a regular salary.
1863 - The first wartime U.S. conscription law is enacted.
1867 - British East India Company rule in Malay Straits Settlements (now in Malaysia and Singapore) ends, and they become a Crown Colony of Britain.
1918 - Britain's Royal Air Force is founded.
1933 - Nazi Germany begins persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.
1937 - India Constitution goes into effect but All-India Party abstains from forming government, demanding complete independence.
1939 - Spanish Civil War ends with Nationalist victory, 1 million dead and a dictatorship as the United States recognizes the Franco government in Spain.
1944 - Allies bomb Belgrade, targeting Nazi Germany occupiers, but 1,160 local people and 200 German troops are killed.
1945 - U.S. Marines land on Japanese-held island of Okinawa in World War II.
1946 - Tidal waves strike the Hawaiian Islands, killing more than 170 people.
1948 - Soviet Union begins to interfere with traffic between Berlin and West Germany.
1960 - South African government bans African National Congress and Pan-African Congress; the first weather satellite, TIROS-1, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1962 - Swiss referendum rejects manufacture or importation of atomic weapons.
1964 - A military coup in Brazil overthrows the leftist government of President Joao Goulart.
1970 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signs a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television.
1986 - In his first major speech on the epidemic, U.S. President Ronald Reagan tells doctors in Philadelphia, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1."
1988 - Sikh gunmen go on murder spree across India's Punjab State and kill 37 people, including 7 children, police and witnesses say.
1989 - South Africa reports major clashes with guerrillas in Namibia on eve of cease-fire.
1990 - Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis says Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is demanding "impossible things" in asking annulment of independence declaration.
1991 - Many food stores in Moscow are closed to prevent panic buying on the eve of scheduled price hikes of 200 to 1,000 percent on consumer goods.
1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush pledges United States will help finance the $24-billion international aid fund for the former Soviet Union.
1993 - Israeli forces thrust deep into Lebanon, blasting Palestinian guerrilla bases near Tripoli with helicopters and gunboats.
1994 - South African soldiers roll into Natal to quell unrest threatening the national election.
1995 - Four months after going into Chechnya, Russian forces declare control of all major cities and wage a war of attrition against remaining rebels in the mountains.
1996 - Britain proposes slaughtering 15,000 of its cattle every week for the next six years to fight mad cow disease and convince its EU partners to quickly lift a ban on British beef exports.
1997 - In Tegucigalpa, a U.S. Air Force cargo plane overshoots the runway in the Honduran capital, crashing on a busy street and killing three of those aboard.
1998 - Israel formally accepts a U.N. resolution calling for its withdrawal from south Lebanon, a policy change that represents a first step toward ending a 20-year occupation.
1999 - Nunavut, a self-governing territory for Canada's indigenous Inuit people, is created out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic surrenders after a 26-hour standoff against police looking to arrest him for charges linked to a decade of repressive rule.
2003 - A court in Britain convicts two Algerian illegal immigrants of raising funds for the al-Qaida terror network, and sentences both to 11 years in prison. They are the first persons convicted in Britain of having ties to al-Qaida.
2006 - Kurdish protesters attack government offices and a bank while police fire shots and tear gas to scatter thousands of demonstrators in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast.
2007 - Nepal's communist rebels join an interim government as part of a landmark peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency. Six former Maoists take an oath of office in a ceremony broadcast on national television, along with 16 other ministers and junior ministers.
2008 - Gunmen fire on a car carrying foreign aid workers and abduct a Briton and a Kenyan in southern Somalia.
2009 - Doggedly optimistic in the face of doubts, President Barack Obama, in an eventful first day on the international stage, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown predict an emergency G-20 economic summit will produce a significant global deal to tackle the deepening worldwide recession. In the streets of London thousands of protesters clash with police.
1666 - French forces capture St. Kitts, Leeward Islands, West Indies, from England.
1789 - The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania is elected the first House Speaker.
1852 - Second Burmese War breaks out after British ultimatum to King of Burma. It ends within the year with the British annexation of Rangoon.
1853 - Cincinnati, Ohio, becomes the first U.S. city to pay its firefighters a regular salary.
1863 - The first wartime U.S. conscription law is enacted.
1867 - British East India Company rule in Malay Straits Settlements (now in Malaysia and Singapore) ends, and they become a Crown Colony of Britain.
1918 - Britain's Royal Air Force is founded.
1933 - Nazi Germany begins persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.
1937 - India Constitution goes into effect but All-India Party abstains from forming government, demanding complete independence.
1939 - Spanish Civil War ends with Nationalist victory, 1 million dead and a dictatorship as the United States recognizes the Franco government in Spain.
1944 - Allies bomb Belgrade, targeting Nazi Germany occupiers, but 1,160 local people and 200 German troops are killed.
1945 - U.S. Marines land on Japanese-held island of Okinawa in World War II.
1946 - Tidal waves strike the Hawaiian Islands, killing more than 170 people.
1948 - Soviet Union begins to interfere with traffic between Berlin and West Germany.
1960 - South African government bans African National Congress and Pan-African Congress; the first weather satellite, TIROS-1, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1962 - Swiss referendum rejects manufacture or importation of atomic weapons.
1964 - A military coup in Brazil overthrows the leftist government of President Joao Goulart.
1970 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signs a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television.
1986 - In his first major speech on the epidemic, U.S. President Ronald Reagan tells doctors in Philadelphia, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1."
1988 - Sikh gunmen go on murder spree across India's Punjab State and kill 37 people, including 7 children, police and witnesses say.
1989 - South Africa reports major clashes with guerrillas in Namibia on eve of cease-fire.
1990 - Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis says Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is demanding "impossible things" in asking annulment of independence declaration.
1991 - Many food stores in Moscow are closed to prevent panic buying on the eve of scheduled price hikes of 200 to 1,000 percent on consumer goods.
1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush pledges United States will help finance the $24-billion international aid fund for the former Soviet Union.
1993 - Israeli forces thrust deep into Lebanon, blasting Palestinian guerrilla bases near Tripoli with helicopters and gunboats.
1994 - South African soldiers roll into Natal to quell unrest threatening the national election.
1995 - Four months after going into Chechnya, Russian forces declare control of all major cities and wage a war of attrition against remaining rebels in the mountains.
1996 - Britain proposes slaughtering 15,000 of its cattle every week for the next six years to fight mad cow disease and convince its EU partners to quickly lift a ban on British beef exports.
1997 - In Tegucigalpa, a U.S. Air Force cargo plane overshoots the runway in the Honduran capital, crashing on a busy street and killing three of those aboard.
1998 - Israel formally accepts a U.N. resolution calling for its withdrawal from south Lebanon, a policy change that represents a first step toward ending a 20-year occupation.
1999 - Nunavut, a self-governing territory for Canada's indigenous Inuit people, is created out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic surrenders after a 26-hour standoff against police looking to arrest him for charges linked to a decade of repressive rule.
2003 - A court in Britain convicts two Algerian illegal immigrants of raising funds for the al-Qaida terror network, and sentences both to 11 years in prison. They are the first persons convicted in Britain of having ties to al-Qaida.
2006 - Kurdish protesters attack government offices and a bank while police fire shots and tear gas to scatter thousands of demonstrators in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast.
2007 - Nepal's communist rebels join an interim government as part of a landmark peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency. Six former Maoists take an oath of office in a ceremony broadcast on national television, along with 16 other ministers and junior ministers.
2008 - Gunmen fire on a car carrying foreign aid workers and abduct a Briton and a Kenyan in southern Somalia.
2009 - Doggedly optimistic in the face of doubts, President Barack Obama, in an eventful first day on the international stage, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown predict an emergency G-20 economic summit will produce a significant global deal to tackle the deepening worldwide recession. In the streets of London thousands of protesters clash with police.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
This Day In History for March 31
1889 - French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.
1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except for those willing to convert to Christianity.
1917 - the United States took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.
1923 - the first US dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings setting a world record of 27 hours on her feet.
1933 - Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps.
1943 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma!" opened on Broadway.
1945 - the Tennessee Williams play "The Glass Menagerie" opened on Broadway.
1949 - Newfoundland entered confederation as Canada's tenth province.
1968 - President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for another term of office.
1976 - the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained comatose, died in 1985.)
1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.
1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except for those willing to convert to Christianity.
1917 - the United States took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.
1923 - the first US dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings setting a world record of 27 hours on her feet.
1933 - Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps.
1943 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma!" opened on Broadway.
1945 - the Tennessee Williams play "The Glass Menagerie" opened on Broadway.
1949 - Newfoundland entered confederation as Canada's tenth province.
1968 - President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for another term of office.
1976 - the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained comatose, died in 1985.)
1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
This Day In History for March 30
1867 - US Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly."
1822 - Florida became a United States territory.
1842 - Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.
1870 - the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.
1870 - Texas was readmitted to the Union.
1945 - the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War Two.
1964 - John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for US Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.
1970 - the musical "Applause" opened on Broadway.
1973 - Ellsworth Bunker resigned as US ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham A. Martin.
1981 - President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington DC hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.
1998 - Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.
1822 - Florida became a United States territory.
1842 - Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.
1870 - the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.
1870 - Texas was readmitted to the Union.
1945 - the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War Two.
1964 - John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for US Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.
1970 - the musical "Applause" opened on Broadway.
1973 - Ellsworth Bunker resigned as US ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham A. Martin.
1981 - President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington DC hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.
1998 - Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.
Monday, March 29, 2010
This Day in History - March 29
1973 - the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.
1638 - Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.
1790 - the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler, was born in Charles City County, Va.
1792 - Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot and mortally wounded by assasins during a masquerade party.
1847 - during the Mexican-American War, victorious forces led by Gen. Winfield Scott occupied the city of Veracruz after Mexican defenders capitulated.
1867 - Britain's Parliament passed the British North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.
1882 - the Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut.
1943 - World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began.
1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. (They were executed in June 1953.)
1962 - Jack Paar hosted NBC's "Tonight" show for the final time.
1971 - Army Lt. William L. Calley, Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai (mee ly) massacre. (Calley ended up serving three years under house arrest.)
1638 - Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.
1790 - the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler, was born in Charles City County, Va.
1792 - Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot and mortally wounded by assasins during a masquerade party.
1847 - during the Mexican-American War, victorious forces led by Gen. Winfield Scott occupied the city of Veracruz after Mexican defenders capitulated.
1867 - Britain's Parliament passed the British North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.
1882 - the Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut.
1943 - World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began.
1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. (They were executed in June 1953.)
1962 - Jack Paar hosted NBC's "Tonight" show for the final time.
1971 - Army Lt. William L. Calley, Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai (mee ly) massacre. (Calley ended up serving three years under house arrest.)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
This Day in History for March 28
1979 - America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.
1834 - the U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
1854 - during the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.
1898 - the Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.
1930 - the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.
1935 - the notorious Nazi propaganda film "Triumph des Willens" (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.
1939 - the Spanish Civil War effectively ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.
1941 - novelist and critic Virginia Woolf drowned herself in Lewes, England.
1942 - during World War II, British naval forces raided the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot.
1969 - the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.
1994 - absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 84.
1834 - the U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
1854 - during the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.
1898 - the Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.
1930 - the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.
1935 - the notorious Nazi propaganda film "Triumph des Willens" (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.
1939 - the Spanish Civil War effectively ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.
1941 - novelist and critic Virginia Woolf drowned herself in Lewes, England.
1942 - during World War II, British naval forces raided the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot.
1969 - the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.
1994 - absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco died in Paris at age 84.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
This Day in History - March 27
1794 - President Washington and Congress authorized creation of the US Navy.
1512 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.
1625 - Charles the First ascended the English throne upon the death of James the First.
1836 - the first Mormon temple was dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.
1917 - the Seattle Metropolitans became the first US team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens.
1945 - during World War Two, General Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken.
1958 - Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party.
1964 - Alaska was rocked by a powerful earthquake that killed 114 people.
1968 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth, died in a plane crash.
1977 - 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
1998 - the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, saying it helped about two-thirds of impotent men improve their sexual function.
1512 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.
1625 - Charles the First ascended the English throne upon the death of James the First.
1836 - the first Mormon temple was dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.
1917 - the Seattle Metropolitans became the first US team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens.
1945 - during World War Two, General Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken.
1958 - Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party.
1964 - Alaska was rocked by a powerful earthquake that killed 114 people.
1968 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth, died in a plane crash.
1977 - 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
1998 - the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, saying it helped about two-thirds of impotent men improve their sexual function.
Friday, March 26, 2010
This Day in History - March 26
1982 - groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington DC for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1804 - the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
1827 - composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
1875 - poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.
1892 - poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey.
1911 - playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi.
1958 - the US Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer Three.
1964 - the musical play "Funny Girl" opened on Broadway.
1971 - East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.
1979 - the Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH'-kem BAY'-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House.
1997 - the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
1804 - the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
1827 - composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
1875 - poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.
1892 - poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey.
1911 - playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi.
1958 - the US Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer Three.
1964 - the musical play "Funny Girl" opened on Broadway.
1971 - East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.
1979 - the Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH'-kem BAY'-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House.
1997 - the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
This Day in History - March 25
1911 - in a tragedy that galvanized America's labor movement, 146 immigrant workers were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York.
1634 - Maryland was founded by English colonists sent by the second Lord Baltimore.
1865 - during the Civil War, Confederate forces captured Fort Stedman in Virginia.
1894 - Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington DC to demand help from the federal government.
1913 - the home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.
1918 - French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.
1947 - a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, claimed 111 lives.
1957 - the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community.
1965 - the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. (The nephew was beheaded the following June.)
1994 - American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.
1634 - Maryland was founded by English colonists sent by the second Lord Baltimore.
1865 - during the Civil War, Confederate forces captured Fort Stedman in Virginia.
1894 - Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington DC to demand help from the federal government.
1913 - the home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.
1918 - French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.
1947 - a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, claimed 111 lives.
1957 - the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community.
1965 - the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. (The nephew was beheaded the following June.)
1994 - American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
This Day in History for March 23
1775 - Patrick Henry made his famous call for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
1743 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its London premiere.
1792 - Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major (the "Surprise" symphony) was performed publicly for the first time, in London.
1806 - explorers Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east.
1919 - Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.
1933 - the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.
1942 - during World War Two, the US government began evacuating Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes to detention centers.
1950 - at the Academy Awards, "All the King's Men" won best picture of 1949; its star, Broderick Crawford, won best actor. Olivia de Havilland won best actress for "The Heiress."
1956 - Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth.
1965 - America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini Three blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard.
1983 - Dr. Barney Clark, recipient of a permanent artificial heart, died at the University of Utah Medical Center after 112 days with the device.
1743 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its London premiere.
1792 - Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major (the "Surprise" symphony) was performed publicly for the first time, in London.
1806 - explorers Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east.
1919 - Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.
1933 - the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.
1942 - during World War Two, the US government began evacuating Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes to detention centers.
1950 - at the Academy Awards, "All the King's Men" won best picture of 1949; its star, Broderick Crawford, won best actor. Olivia de Havilland won best actress for "The Heiress."
1956 - Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth.
1965 - America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini Three blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard.
1983 - Dr. Barney Clark, recipient of a permanent artificial heart, died at the University of Utah Medical Center after 112 days with the device.
Monday, March 22, 2010
This Day in History for March 22
1765, Britain enacted the Stamp Act to raise money from the American colonies. (The Act was repealed the following year.)
On this date:
In 1638, religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In 1820, US naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington DC.
In 1882, Congress outlawed polygamy.
In 1894, hockey's first Stanley Cup championship game was played; the home team Montreal Amateur Athletic Association defeated the Ottawa Capitals, 3-to-1.
In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris.
In 1933, during Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine and beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal.
In 1945, the Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1946, the British mandate in Transjordan came to an end.
In 1972, Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. (It fell three states short of the 38 needed for approval.)
In 1978, Karl Wallenda, the 73-year-old patriarch of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act, fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On this date:
In 1638, religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In 1820, US naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington DC.
In 1882, Congress outlawed polygamy.
In 1894, hockey's first Stanley Cup championship game was played; the home team Montreal Amateur Athletic Association defeated the Ottawa Capitals, 3-to-1.
In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris.
In 1933, during Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine and beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal.
In 1945, the Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1946, the British mandate in Transjordan came to an end.
In 1972, Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. (It fell three states short of the 38 needed for approval.)
In 1978, Karl Wallenda, the 73-year-old patriarch of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act, fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
This Day in History for March 21
21st, 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
On this date:
In 1685, composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
In 1790, Thomas Jefferson reported to President Washington in New York as the new secretary of state.
In 1804, the French civil code, the "Code Napoleon," was adopted.
In 1806, Mexican statesman Benito Juarez was born in Oaxaca.
In 1945, during World War Two, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.
In 1946, the United Nations set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York.
In 1960, some 70 people were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa, when police fired on demonstrators.
In 1963, the Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility.
In 1979, the Egyptian Parliament unanimously approved a peace treaty with Israel.
On this date:
In 1685, composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
In 1790, Thomas Jefferson reported to President Washington in New York as the new secretary of state.
In 1804, the French civil code, the "Code Napoleon," was adopted.
In 1806, Mexican statesman Benito Juarez was born in Oaxaca.
In 1945, during World War Two, Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany.
In 1946, the United Nations set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York.
In 1960, some 70 people were killed in Sharpeville, South Africa, when police fired on demonstrators.
In 1963, the Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility.
In 1979, the Egyptian Parliament unanimously approved a peace treaty with Israel.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
This Day In History for March 20
1616 - Sir Walter Raleigh is released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.
1784 - Holland cedes Negapatama and Madras, India, to Britain.
1816 - U.S. Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions.
1849 - Second Sikh War between Sikhs and Britain begins in India; Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, abdicates.
1850 - Another Anglo-Kaffir war breaks out in South Africa.
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel about slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is published in the United States.
1896 - Marines land in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.
1899 - Martha M. Place of Brooklyn, New York, becomes the first woman to be executed in the electric chair in the United States.
1916 - Allies agree on partition of Turkey.
1942 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur declares: "I shall return" to the Philippines after leaving for Australia in the face of a Japanese invasion.
1956 - France recognizes independence of Tunisia, with Habib Bourguiba as its first president.
1972 - Nineteen mountain climbers on Japan's Mount Fuji are killed in avalanche.
1976 - Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup.
1987 - Italian air force Gen. Livio Giorgieri is shot dead by two youths on motorcycle. The attack is attributed to the Red Brigades terrorist group; U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.
1988 - Honduran warplanes bomb Nicaraguan troops who chased Contras rebels into Honduras.
1989 - PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat blames Israeli government for escalating violence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
1990 - Namibia becomes an independent nation, marking the end of 75 years of South African rule.
1991 - U.S. forces shoot down an Iraqi warplane saying it was violating a cease-fire agreement; Khaleda Zia is elected prime minister in the first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in Bangladesh.
1992 - Iraq backs down under threat of possible air raids and admits far larger ballistic and chemical arsenals than disclosed earlier.
1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin declares emergency rule until he can conduct a referendum on whether the people trust him or the hard-line Congress to govern.
1994 - Tunisians elect first multiparty parliament.
1995 - In Tokyo, 12 people are killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin leak on five separate subway trains.
1997 - The Swiss National Bank confirms that it helped other neutral European countries to buy millions of dollars worth of Nazi gold during World War II.
1998 - The Trans-Kalahari Highway, sub-Saharan Africa's first road connecting the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, is opened.
2000 - President Abdou Diouf concedes defeat in Senegalese elections, marking a rare victory for democratic change in Africa and bringing a fiery opposition leader to power.
2003 - Former U.S. Air Force Sergeant Brian Regan accepts a sentence of life in prison for attempting to sell U.S. defense secrets to China and Iraq.
2004 - Thousands of people march in cities across the globe to mark the first anniversary of the war in Iraq, demanding an end to the U.S. occupation _ which some blamed for spawning more terrorism _ and the withdrawal of international troops.
2005 - Iraq recalls its ambassador to neighboring, Sunni-dominated Jordan in a growing dispute over Shiite Muslim claims that Aman is failing to block terrorists from entering Iraq.
2006 - About 1,000 pro-democracy activists march in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu, demanding King Gyanendra free political detainees and give up powers he seized in 2005.
2007 - Fire engulfs a nursing home in Kamyshevatskaya, a small town in south Russia, killing 62 frail and elderly residents after the night watchman ignores two alarms and rescue workers take nearly an hour to arrive.
2008 - Australia commits $17 million to train Aboriginal nurses and doctors, as part of efforts to close a 17-year gap in the life expectancies of indigenous and other Australians.
2009 - France submits a formal request to rejoin NATO's command structure after a 43-year-absence.
1784 - Holland cedes Negapatama and Madras, India, to Britain.
1816 - U.S. Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions.
1849 - Second Sikh War between Sikhs and Britain begins in India; Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, abdicates.
1850 - Another Anglo-Kaffir war breaks out in South Africa.
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel about slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is published in the United States.
1896 - Marines land in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.
1899 - Martha M. Place of Brooklyn, New York, becomes the first woman to be executed in the electric chair in the United States.
1916 - Allies agree on partition of Turkey.
1942 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur declares: "I shall return" to the Philippines after leaving for Australia in the face of a Japanese invasion.
1956 - France recognizes independence of Tunisia, with Habib Bourguiba as its first president.
1972 - Nineteen mountain climbers on Japan's Mount Fuji are killed in avalanche.
1976 - Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup.
1987 - Italian air force Gen. Livio Giorgieri is shot dead by two youths on motorcycle. The attack is attributed to the Red Brigades terrorist group; U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.
1988 - Honduran warplanes bomb Nicaraguan troops who chased Contras rebels into Honduras.
1989 - PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat blames Israeli government for escalating violence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
1990 - Namibia becomes an independent nation, marking the end of 75 years of South African rule.
1991 - U.S. forces shoot down an Iraqi warplane saying it was violating a cease-fire agreement; Khaleda Zia is elected prime minister in the first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in Bangladesh.
1992 - Iraq backs down under threat of possible air raids and admits far larger ballistic and chemical arsenals than disclosed earlier.
1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin declares emergency rule until he can conduct a referendum on whether the people trust him or the hard-line Congress to govern.
1994 - Tunisians elect first multiparty parliament.
1995 - In Tokyo, 12 people are killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin leak on five separate subway trains.
1997 - The Swiss National Bank confirms that it helped other neutral European countries to buy millions of dollars worth of Nazi gold during World War II.
1998 - The Trans-Kalahari Highway, sub-Saharan Africa's first road connecting the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, is opened.
2000 - President Abdou Diouf concedes defeat in Senegalese elections, marking a rare victory for democratic change in Africa and bringing a fiery opposition leader to power.
2003 - Former U.S. Air Force Sergeant Brian Regan accepts a sentence of life in prison for attempting to sell U.S. defense secrets to China and Iraq.
2004 - Thousands of people march in cities across the globe to mark the first anniversary of the war in Iraq, demanding an end to the U.S. occupation _ which some blamed for spawning more terrorism _ and the withdrawal of international troops.
2005 - Iraq recalls its ambassador to neighboring, Sunni-dominated Jordan in a growing dispute over Shiite Muslim claims that Aman is failing to block terrorists from entering Iraq.
2006 - About 1,000 pro-democracy activists march in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu, demanding King Gyanendra free political detainees and give up powers he seized in 2005.
2007 - Fire engulfs a nursing home in Kamyshevatskaya, a small town in south Russia, killing 62 frail and elderly residents after the night watchman ignores two alarms and rescue workers take nearly an hour to arrive.
2008 - Australia commits $17 million to train Aboriginal nurses and doctors, as part of efforts to close a 17-year gap in the life expectancies of indigenous and other Australians.
2009 - France submits a formal request to rejoin NATO's command structure after a 43-year-absence.
Friday, March 19, 2010
This Day in History for March 19
1979 - the US House of Representatives began televising its day-to-day business.
1859 - the opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premiered in Paris.
1917 - the Supreme Court upheld the eight-hour work day for railroads.
1918 - Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time.
1931 - Nevada legalized gambling.
1945 - about eight hundred people were killed as Kamikaze planes attacked the US carrier Franklin off Japan; the ship, however, was saved.
1945 - Adolf Hitler issued his so-called "Nero Decree," ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands.
1953 - the Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time; "The Greatest Show on Earth" was named best picture of 1952.
1976 - Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.
1985 - in a legislative victory for President Reagan, the Senate voted, 55-to-45, to authorize production of the MX missile.
1987 - televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary from Oklahoma.
1993 - Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White announced plans to retire. (White's departure paved the way for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to become the court's second female justice.)
1859 - the opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premiered in Paris.
1917 - the Supreme Court upheld the eight-hour work day for railroads.
1918 - Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time.
1931 - Nevada legalized gambling.
1945 - about eight hundred people were killed as Kamikaze planes attacked the US carrier Franklin off Japan; the ship, however, was saved.
1945 - Adolf Hitler issued his so-called "Nero Decree," ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands.
1953 - the Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time; "The Greatest Show on Earth" was named best picture of 1952.
1976 - Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.
1985 - in a legislative victory for President Reagan, the Senate voted, 55-to-45, to authorize production of the MX missile.
1987 - televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary from Oklahoma.
1993 - Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White announced plans to retire. (White's departure paved the way for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to become the court's second female justice.)
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