Today In History...

In 1663 King Charles II signs the Carolina Charter.

In 1830 Joseph Smith organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church) in Fayette, New York.

In 1862 The Civil War Battle of Shiloh begins as the Confederate Army attacks Union forces in Tennessee.

In 1868 Brigham Young marries wife number 27, his final.

In 1896 The first modern Olympic Games begin in Athens, Greece.

In 1906 The first animated cartoon is copyrighted.

In 1909 American explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first men to reach the North Pole.

In 1917 The U.S. declares war on Germany and enters World War I.

In 1926 4 planes take off on the first successful around-the world flight.

In 1931 The Hostess "Twinkie" goes on sale.

In 1936 A tornado kills 203 people at Gainesville, Georgia.

In 1963 The U.S. and Britain sign an agreement under which the Americans would sell "Polaris" A-3 missiles to the British.

In 1965 The U.S. launches the Early Bird communications satellite.

In 1983 The longest boxing match (using gloves) is set at 110 rounds.

In 1984 The space shuttle Challenger is launched for the fifth time.

In 1985 American diver Randal Dickison sets the world record for high diving by plunging into Ocean Park at Hong Kong.

In 1985 William J. Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital when he moves into an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1987 The Dow Jones average closes above 2,400 for the first time.

In 1987 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Texaco should post a $10 billion bond while appeals of the Pennzoil decision were heard.

In 1987 Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler to become middleweight champion.

In 1987 Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in major-league baseball.

In 1988 Tirza Porat, a 15-year-old girl, is killed in a West Bank melee, becoming the first Israeli civilian to die in the occupied territories since the Palestinian uprising began.

In 1988 Tirza Porat, 15, is killed in a West Bank melee, becoming the first Israeli civilian to die in the occupied territories since the start of the Palestinian uprising.

In 1989 Oliver North testifies that three superiors ordered him to help the Contras.

In 1989 Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev meets with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London.

In 1990 Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze conclude 3 days of talks in Washington.

In 1992 The U.S. Supreme Court limited some undercover sting operations as it rules that a Nebraska farmer had been entrapped by postal agents into buying mail-order pornography.

In 1992 Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov dies in New York at age 72.

In 1993 In a televised speech a year after ethnic warfare erupted in Bosnia, the president of the Muslim-led government, Alija Izetbegovic, compares the destructive nationalism to Nazism.

In 1994 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announces his retirement.

In 1994 The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi are killed in a mysterious plane crash near Rwanda's capital.

In 1994 A Palestinian suicide-bomber killed seven Israelis in an attack on a bus in Afula.

In 1996 A stolen truck carrying illegal immigrants overturns in Temecula, CA, killing eight people.

In 1996 Actress Greer Garson dies in Dallas at age 92.

In 1997 On 5th anniversary of the Bosnian war, descendants of former Hapsburg rulers visit the site where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot, triggering World War I.

In 1997 NASA officials cut short the 16-day mission of space shuttle Columbia by 12 days because of a deteriorating power generator.

In 1997 A blizzard shuts down much of the northern Plains.

In 1997 Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke dies at age 84.

In 1998 Federal researchers say daily tamoxifen pills may cut breast cancer risk among high-risk women.

In 1998 Pakistan successfully tests medium-range missile capable of attacking neighboring India.

In 1998 U.S. Energy Secretary Federico Pena announces his resignation.

In 2000 The father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrives in the U.S. to press for return of his son to Cuba.

In 2002 President Bush repeats his call for Israel to "withdraw without delay" from West Bank towns it had occupied since launching an offensive after a string of suicide attacks.

In 2005 Monaco's Prince Rainier III, who married American star Grace Kelly in 1956, dies at 81. He had been Europe's longest-reigning monarch.

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