Today In History...

Today In History...

   In 1546 Martin Luther, the Great Reformer of the Protestant Church, dies.

   In 1564 The artist Michelangelo dies in Rome.

   In 1861 Jefferson Davis is sworn in as president of the Confederate States,

           in Montgomery, Alabama.

   In 1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is published in the

           U.S. for the first time.

   In 1900 X-ray therapy is the first reported cancer cure.

   In 1907 Russia suffers a famine and America sends 600,000 tons of food.

   In 1928 Wall Street sets stock sales record: 1,800,000 shares over 2 hours.

   In 1930 The ninth planet of our solar system, Pluto, is discovered.

   In 1953 The 3-D movie "Bwana Devil" is released in New York City.

   In 1960 The eighth Winter Olympic Games are formally opened in Squaw Valley,

           California, by Vice President Richard Nixon.

   In 1967 The National Gallery of Art pays $5,000,000+ to Prince Franz Joseph

           of Liechtenstein for Da Vinci's "Ginevra dei Benci."

   In 1969 An El Al Boeing 720 is attacked by Palestinian terrorists.

   In 1970 The Chicago Seven defendants are found innocent of consspiring to

           incite riots at the 1968 Democratic convention.

   In 1972 The California Supreme Court strikes down the state's death penalty.

   In 1972 A federal report says alcoholism is America's #1 drug problem.

   In 1977 The space shuttle Enterprise, sitting on top of a Boeing 747, goes

           on its maiden "flight," reaching altitudes of up to 16,000 feet

           above the Mojave dessert.

   In 1977 The world record for rapid consumption of hard-boiled eggs is set

           by Peter Dowdeswell who downs 14 in 58 seconds.

   In 1983 About 1,000 Muslim villagers in Nellie, India, are massacred by

           Assamese Hindus.

   In 1984 Italy and the Vatican sign a revised concordat under which Roman

           Catholicism ceases to be the state religion of Italy.

   In 1986 The price of oil drops below $15 a barrel.

   In 1986 A bomb placed in the car of a U.S. Embassy Marine explodes in the

           embassy compound in Lisbon, Portugal, but caused no injuries.

   In 1988 Anthony M. Kennedy is sworn in as the 104th justice of the U.S.

           Supreme Court.

   In 1989 Author Salman Rushdie, under a death sentence from Iran's Ayatollah

           Khomeini for his book "The Satanic Verses," expresses regret for any

           distress he'd caused Muslims.

   In 1990 In general elections, Japan's conservative governing party holds

           onto its 34-year-old majority in the Parliament's lower house.

   In 1991 Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz held talks in Moscow with Soviet

           President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who presented a proposal for ending

           the Persian Gulf War.

   In 1991 The Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for a bomb that

           exploded in a London rail station, killing a commuter.

   In 1994 American speedskater Dan Jansen wins an Olympic gold medal, breaking

           the world record in the 1000 meters.

   In 1995 The NAACP replaced veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie

           Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

   In 1996 Cuba fighter planes shoot down two small aircraft belonging to a

           U.S.-based exile group flying off the coast of Havana.

   In 1997 Astronauts complete repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope after 33

           hours of spacewalking.

   In 1997 Bill Richardson begins work as U.S. ambassador to United Nations.

   In 1997 General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, Mexico's drug czar, is arrested on

           suspicion of accepting bribes from drug lord.

   In 1998 Money shortages in Russia force three plants that produce nuclear

           weapons to shut down.

   In 1998 Two white separatists, accused of plotting bacterial attack on New

           York City subways, are arrested in Nevada.

   In 1998 Sportscaster Harry Caray dies in Rancho Mirage, CA, at age 83.

   In 2001 FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen is arrested and accused of spying

           for Russia for more than 15 years.

   In 2001 Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. dies from injuries suffered in a

           crash at the Daytona 500. He was 49.

   In 2001 Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews dies at age 69.

   In 2002 France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat win the Olympic ice

           dancing gold medal.

   In 2003 An arson attack on two South Korean subway trains in the city of 

           Daegu claims 198 lives.