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.
Comments
Post a Comment