Today In History...

Today In History...

   In 1791 Congress passes a resolution ordering the U.S. Mint be established.

   In 1845 Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state.

   In 1849 The Gold Coinage Act passes, allowing gold coins to be minted.

   In 1849 The "Home Department," the forerunner of the Interior Department is

           established.

   In 1851 Congress authorizes the smallest U.S. silver coin, the 3-cent piece.

   In 1863 The National Academy of Sciences is formed.

   In 1875 A 20-cent coin is authorized by Congress (it only lasts 3 years).

   In 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes takes the oath of office as the 19th U.S.

           president in a private ceremony (a public swearing-in took place two

           days later).

   In 1879 Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood is the first woman to practice before the

           U.S. Supreme Court.

   In 1885 American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) is incorporated.

   In 1885 The post office introduces Special Delivery for first class mail.

   In 1887 Ann Sullivan arrives at the Alabama home of Captain and Mrs. Arthur

           Keller to become the teacher of their blind and deaf 6-year-old

           daughter, Helen.

   In 1894 British Prime Minister William Gladstone submits his resignation to

           Queen Victoria.

   In 1918 Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which

           ended Russian participation in World War I.

   In 1931 The "Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes the national anthem of

           the United States.

   In 1969 Apollo IX is launched from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test the

           lunar module.

   In 1974 Nearly 350 people die when a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashes shortly

           after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.

   In 1978 The remains of Charlie Chaplin are taken by grave robbers in

           Switzerland.  His body is recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.

   In 1983 President Reagan hosts a state dinner for Britain's Queen Elizabeth

           II in San Francisco.

   In 1984 Peter V. Ueberroth is named commissioner of baseball by the 26 major

           league owners, ending a 15-month search for a successor to Bowie

           Kuhn.

   In 1985 "Moonlighting" with Cybill Sheppard and Bruce Willis premieres on

           ABC-TV.

   In 1985 British coal miners vote to end a year-long strike.

   In 1986 The Austrian news magazine Profil links Kurt Waldheim to Adolf

           Hitler's infamous "brown shirts," but a spokesman denied the former

           U.N. Secretary-General had belonged to the Nazi organization.

   In 1987 Actor/comedian Danny Kaye dies in Los Angeles at age 74.

   In 1988 The U.S. House of Representatives rejects a package of $30 million

           in non-lethal aid for Nicaraguan Contras.

   In 1990 President Bush expresses opposition to the settlement of Soviet

           Jewish refugees in East Jerusalem.

   In 1991 In a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King is

           severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed

           chase in a scene captured on home video.

   In 1991 Twenty-five people are killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200

           inexplicably crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.

   In 1992 An underground coal mine explosion in Koslu, Turkey, claims 270

           lives.

   In 1993 Health pioneer Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine,

           dies in Washington, DC, at age 86.

   In 1994 President Clinton signs executive order taking steps toward

           retaliatory tariffs against Japanese imports.

   In 1996 A bus bomb in Jerusalem kills the bomber and at least 18 others and

           wounds 10 people.

   In 1997 Vice President Al Gore, under fire for campaign fund-raising

           activities, acknowledges soliciting from his White House office, but

           insisted he did not do "anything wrong, much less illegal."

   In 1998 The U.S. Supreme Court rules local lawmaker votes are immune to

           lawsuits even if based on illegal or discriminatory motives. Also,

           the court says bankruptcy filers can avoid damages if they did not

           intend injury.

   In 1998 Presidential confidant Vernon Jordan testifies before the grand jury

           investigating the Monica Lewinsky matter.

   In 1998 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates testifies before the Senate Judiciary

           Committee that his company wasn't a monopoly out to crush rivals in

           the Internet software market.

   In 1998 Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, is

           elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

   In 2000 Former dictator General Augusto Pinochet returns to Chile a free

           man, 16 months after he was detained in Britain on torture charges.

   In 2001 A plane carrying members of a National Guard engineering crew

           crashes in heavy rain near Macon, GA, killing all 21 on board.

   In 2001 John Ruiz becomes the first Hispanic WBA heavyweight champion by

           defeating Evander Holyfield in a unanimous 12-round decision.

   In 2002 Citizens of Switzerland vote to join the United Nations, abandoning

           almost 200 years of formal neutrality.

   In 2003 Malcolm Kilduff, the White House spokesman who announced to a

           shocked world the death of President Kennedy, dies at age 75.

   In 2004 The first same-sex marriage licenses are issued in Multnomah

           County, Oregon.

   In 2013 A two and a half year old U.S. girl becomes the first child born

           with HIV to be cured.

   In 2014 Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice from the "Real Housewives of New

           Jersey," plead guilty to multiple Fraud Charges.