Today In History...

Today In History...

   In 1840 New Zealand is settled by the British.

   In 1881 An ancient Egyptian obelisk known as "Cleopatra's Needle" is erected

           in New York's Central Park.

   In 1901 England's Queen Victoria dies at age 82.

   In 1905 Thousands of demonstrating Russian workers are fired on by Imperial

           army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Red Sunday"

           or "Bloody Sunday."

   In 1917 President Wilson pleads for an end to World War I in Europe, saying

           there had to "peace without victory."

   In 1922 Pope Benedict XV dies and is succeeded by Pius XI.

   In 1930 The U.S. alltime low temperature of 85 below zero is set at

           Mt. Carroll, Illinois.

   In 1937 Winter floods kill over 250 in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys.

   In 1938 Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer prize winning play "Our Town" is

           performed for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey.

   In 1944 During World War II, Allied Forces begin landing at Anzio, Italy.

   In 1947 The first commercial TV station west of Mississippi goes on the air

           in Hollywood, California.

   In 1953 "The Crucible," Arthur Miller's drama about the Salem witch trials

           of the 17th century, opens on Broadway.

   In 1955 The U.S. announces it would develop intercontinental missles with

           nuclear warheads.

   In 1961 A Portuguese ocean liner, the Santa Maria, is hijacked in the

           Caribbean with some 600 passengers aboard; the drama ended 11 days

           later when the ship docked in Brazil.

   In 1968 Apollo V is launched to the moon for unmanned lunar module tests.

   In 1968 "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," a fast-paced collection of sketches,

           one-liners and blackouts, premieres on NBC-TV.

   In 1970 The first commercial flight of the Boeing 747 begins in New York and

           ends in London 6 1/2 hours later.

   In 1973 In the case of Roe versus Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down

           state laws restricting abortions in the frist 6 months of pregnancy.

   In 1973 Former President Lyndon Johnson dies at his Texas ranch at age 64.

   In 1975 Lansat 2, an Earth Resources Technology Satellite, is launched.

   In 1979 A car bomb explodes in Beirut, Lebanon, killing terrorist Ali Hassan

           Salameh, believed to have masterminded the massacre of Israeli

           atheletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

   In 1980 The Soviet Union sends Andrei Sakharov into internal exile.

   In 1985 A freeze damages 90% of Florida's citrus crops.

   In 1986 A judge in New Delhi, India, finds a Sikh defendant guilty of murder

           and conspiracy and two other Sikhs guilty of conspiracy in the 1984

           assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

   In 1987 Pennsylvania's State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, convicted of

           defrauding the state, proclaims his innocence at a news conference

           before shooting himself to death in front of horrified spectators.

   In 1988 A federal appeals court rules that court appointment of independent

           government officials was unconstitutional. However, the U.S. Supreme

           Court upheld the law the following June.

   In 1990 A jury in Syracuse, NY, convicts graduate student Robert T. Morris

           of federal computer tampering charges.

   In 1991 During the Gulf War, Iraq fires Scud missiles into Israel striking

           Tel Aviv, resulting in three deaths.

   In 1992 President Bush names Andrew H. Card Jr. to be U.S. Secretary of

           Transportation.

   In 1992 The space shuttle Discovery blasts off with seven astronauts.

   In 1993 Attorney general nominee Zoe Baird withdraws in the face of

           complaints over her hiring of illegal aliens.

   In 1994 Actor Telly Savalas dies of prostate cancer at age 70.

   In 1994 "Schindler's List," Steven Spielberg's drama about the Holocaust,

           wins Golden Globes for best dramatic picture and best director.

   In 1995 Twenty-one Israelis are killed and 59 others injured in a suicide

           bombing in central Israel.

   In 1995 Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy dies at age 104.

   In 1996 First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is subpoenaed by the Whitewater

           special prosecutor to testify before a grand jury.

   In 1996 O.J. Simpson testifies for the first time since the killings of his

           ex-wife Nicole and her friend, Ronald Goldman, as he gave a

           videotaped deposition for a wrongful death lawsuit.

   In 1997 The U.S. Senate confirms Madeleine Albright as the nation's first

           female secretary of state, and former Republican Senator William

           Cohen as defense secretary.

   In 1998 Former top finance official at the  Christian Coalition is sentenced

           to repay $40,000 that was embezzled.

   In 1998 Theodore Kaczynski, who admitted his role in Unabomber attacks,

           pleads guilty to federal charges covering five bombings, and agrees

           to life in prison without parole.

   In 2000 Food writer Craig Claiborne dies at age 79.

   In 2001 President Bush signs a memorandum reinstating full abortion

           restrictions on U.S. overseas aid.

   In 2001 Four of the seven convicts who had broken out of a Texas prison the

           previous month are captured southwest of Denver. A fifth inmate

           had killed himself.

   In 2002 K-mart Corp. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

   In 2002 Gold medal-winning speedskater Jack Shea dies in Lake Placid, NY, of

           injuries suffered in a car accident. He was 91.

   In 2010 Conan O’Brien’s hosted his last "Tonight Show" episode after a big 

           controversy over the Tonight Show timeslot.