Today In History...

   In 1429 Joan of Arc enters the besieged city of Orleans, France, to lead a

           victory over the British.

   In 1857 Headquarters for the U.S. Army Division of the Pacific, are

           permanently established at the Presidio.

   In 1861 Maryland votes against seceding from the Union.

   In 1865 New Orleans falls to Union forces during the Civil War.

   In 1894 Several hundred unemployed men known as "Coxey's Army" arrive in

           Washington, DC, to ask Congress for help.

   In 1913 The zipper is patented by Swedish-born engineer Gideon Sundback.

   In 1916 Irish nationalists who had siezed control of the General Post Office

           in Dublin surrender to British authorities.

   In 1918 Germany's main offensive on the Western Front in World War I ends.

   In 1945 During World War II, American soldiers liberate 32,000 Nazi victims

           in Germany's Dachau concentration camp.

   In 1946 28 former Japanese leaders are indicted in Tokyo for war crimes.

   In 1957 The first military nuclear plant opens in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

   In 1965 Five die when an earthquake hits Seattle, Washington.

   In 1974 President Nixon releases edited transcripts of secret White House

           tapes relating to the Watergate scandal.

   In 1977 Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Donal Coggan,

           participate in a Christian unity service at the Vatican.

   In 1978 The California Supreme Court rules that a host who lets guests get

           drunk can be sued for acts guests commit elsewhere.

   In 1981 Truck driver Peter Sutcliffe admits in a London court to being the

           Yorkshire Ripper, the killer of 13 women in northern England during

           a five-year period.

   In 1983 Harold Washington is sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.

   In 1985 Seventeenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 7 is launched.

   In 1986 The Soviet Union ask for advise on the Chernobyl accident from

           Western experts.

   In 1987 Ronnie DeSillers, a 7-year-old with liver problems whose story

           brought support from President Reagan, dies at a Pittsburgh hospital

           while awaiting a fourth transplant.

   In 1988 McDonald's announces it will open its first restaurant in Moscow.

   In 1990 The space shuttle Discovery lands at Edwards Air Force Base after

           deploying the Hubble Space Telescope.

   In 1990 Wrecking cranes tear down the section of the Berlin Wall surrounding

           the Brandenburg Gate, the wall's most famous section.

   In 1991 An earthquake measuring over seven on the Richter scale hits Soviet

           Georgia, killing at least 100 people.

   In 1991 U.S. troops continue airlifting Iraqi refugees from a camp in

           southern Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

   In 1992 A jury in Simi Valley, CA, fails to convict four Los Angeles police

           officers accused in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, providing

           the spark that set off rioting in South Central Los Angeles.

   In 1992 Exxon executive Sidney Reso is kidnapped outside his Morris NJ, home

           by Arthur Seale, a former Exxon security official, and Seale's wife,

           Irene; Reso died in captivity.

   In 1993 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II announces that, for the first time,

           Buckingham Palace would be opened to tourists to help raise money

           for repairs at fire-damaged Windsor Castle.

   In 1995 Rescue workers in Oklahoma City continue the grim task of searching

           for bodies and pulling debris from the bombed-out Alfred P. Murrah

           Federal Building, where the remains of more than 120 of the 168

           victims had been recovered.

   In 1996 Former CIA Director William Colby is missing after an apparent

           boating accident; his body was later recovered.

   In 1997 Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, a drill instructor at Aberdeen Proving

           Ground in Maryland, is convicted of raping 6 female trainees. He was

           sentenced to 25 years in prison and dishonorably discharged.

   In 1997 Astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev go on the

           first U.S.-Russian space walk.

   In 1998 Brazil announces a plan to protect an area of Amazon forest the size

           of Colorado.

   In 1998 U.S., Canada and Mexico end tariffs on $1 billion in NAFTA trade.

   In 1998 Israel marks its 50th anniversary.

   In 2000 Cuban-Americans marched peacefully through Miami's Little Havana,

           protesting the raid in which armed federal agents yanked 6-year-old

           Elian Gonzalez from the home of relatives.

   In 2000 Lennox Lewis knocks out Michael Grant in the second round at Madison

           Square Garden to retain his WBC and IBF heavyweight titles.

   In 2002 A year after the loss of a seat it had held for over 50 years, the 

           U.S. is elected to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. 

   In 2003 Pakistani authorities capture Waleed bin Attash, accused of playing 

           a leading role in the September 11 attacks. 

   In 2004 Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production. 

   In 2011 Prince William married Catherine “Kate” Middleton. The wedding was 

           held at Westminster Abbey in London.

           Actor Bob Hoskins dies of pneumonia at age 71.