Today In History...

Today In History...

   In 1804 Lt. Stephen Decatur leads a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to

           burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the

           hands of pirates.

   In 1862 During the Civil War, about 14,000 Confederate troops surrender to

           Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

   In 1868 The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized in

           New York City.

   In 1883 Ladies Home Journal begins publication.

   In 1878 The silver dollar becomes legal U.S. tender.

   In 1903 Porcelain inlays become available to restore teeth.

   In 1918 Lithuania proclaims its independence.

   In 1923 The burial chamber of Pharoah Tutankhamun (King Tut) recently

           unearthed tomb is unsealed in Egypt.

   In 1923 The first radio newscast is broadcast.

   In 1937 Dr. Wallace Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont who invented

           nylon, receives a patent for the synthetic fiber.

   In 1945 During World War II, more than 2,000 American troops drop onto the

           island of Corregidor in the Philippines.

   In 1948 NBC-TV begins airing its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel

           Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

   In 1950 The longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line,"

           premieres on CBS-TV.

   In 1952 Ten members of the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan are arrested by the

           FBI.

   In 1959 Fidel Castro becomes president of Cuba after the overthrow of

           Fulgencio Batista.

   In 1961 The U.S. launches the Explorer IX satellite.

   In 1965 NASA launches the first "Pegasus" research satellite.

   In 1968 The nation's first 911 emergency telephone system is inaugurated in

           Haleyville, Alabama.

   In 1977 Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men

           are killed, several hours after the three had been accused of

           plotting against the government of Idi Amin.

   In 1978 H.R. Haldeman accuses former President Richard Nixon of initiating

           Watergate.

   In 1982 Senator Williams receives a $50,000 fine and is sentenced to 3 years

           in prison for his part in the ABSCAM scandal.

   In 1984 Skier Bill Johnson of the U.S. wins the men's downhill and Scott

           Hamilton wins the gold medal for men's figure skating at the Winter

           Olympics in Sarajevo.                                              

   In 1985 Israeli troops complete the first step of a three-stage withdrawal

           from South Lebanon, two days earlier than planned.

   In 1987 The American Bar Association votes to oppose any ban on tobacco

           advertising.

   In 1987 John Demjanjuk, retired car worker, goes on trial on charges of

           of being "Ivan the Terrible," killer, at the Nazi Treblinka camp.

   In 1988 Seven people are shot to death in an office rampage in Sunnyvale,

           CA. The gunman, Richard Farley, was later sentenced to death.

   In 1989 Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, announce that a bomb hidden

           inside a radio-cassette player caused the explosion that destroyed

           Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December.

   In 1990 Former President Reagan begins two days of giving a videotaped

           deposition in a Los Angeles courtroom for the Iran-Contra trial of

           his former national security adviser, John Poinndexter.

   In 1992 Israeli helicopters attack a convoy in Sidon, Lebanon, killing Sheik

           Abbas Musawi, leader of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah.

   In 1993 Prices fall as Wall Street reacts unfavorably to President Clinton's

           economic austerity plan outlined in an address the night before.

   In 1994 A powerful earthquake hits the island of Sumatra, killing at least

           217 people.

   In 1995 Four people are killed when tornadoes tore through north Alabama.

   In 1996 An Amtrak passenger train and Maryland Rail Commuter train collide

           just north of the nation's capital during heavy snowstorm, killing

           11 people and injuring at least three dozen.

   In 1996 Former California Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown dies at age 90.

   In 1997 U.S. Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), the chairman of a House committee

           investigating campaign fund-raising activities, says that his probe

           would be far broader than originally anticipated.

   In 1998 A China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei,

           Taiwan, crashes, killing all 196 people on board and six people on

           the ground.

   In 1999 Enraged Kurds seize embassies and hold hostages across Europe

           following Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

   In 1999 Testimony begins in the Jasper, TX, trial of John William King,

           charged with murder in the gruesome dragging death of James Byrd Jr.

           (King was later convicted and sentenced to death.)

   In 2002 Authorities in Noble, Georga, arrest Ray Brent Marsh, who'd been

           operating a crematory where dozens of decomposing corpses were found

           stacked in storage sheds and scattered in the woods behind it.

   In 2003 Michael Waltrip races past leader Jimmie Johnson to win the 

           rain-shortened Daytona 500 for the second time in three years. 

   In 2003 Eleanor "Sis" Daley, the matriarch of Chicago's Daley political 

           clan, dies at age 95.