Today In History...

   In 1689 William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

   In 1814 Napolean Bonaparte abdicates as emperor of France and is banished to

           the island of Elba.

   In 1876 The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks organized.

   In 1898 President McKinley asks Congress for a declaration of war against

           Spain.

   In 1899 The treaty ending the Spanish-American War is declared in effect.

   In 1921 Iowa becomes the first state to impose a cigarette tax.

   In 1945 During World War II, American soldiers liberate Buchenwald, the

           notorious Nazi concentration camp in eastern Germany.

   In 1947 Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player in major league

           baseball, playing in an exhibition game between the Brooklyn Dodgers

           and the New York Yankees.

   In 1951 General Douglas MacArthur is relieved of command in Korea by

           President Harry Truman for not following orders.

   In 1953 Oveta Culp Hobby becomes the first Secretary of Health, Education

           and Welfare.

   In 1957 The Ryan X-13 Vertijet becomes the first jet to take-off and land

           vertically.

   In 1970 Apollo XIII is launched on a mission to the moon that is jeopardized

           when an explosion crippled the spacecraft; the astronauts managed to

           return safely to Earth.

   In 1979 Idi Amin is deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles

           backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

   In 1980 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issues regulations

           specifically prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by

           supervisors.

   In 1981 President Ronald Reagan returns to the White House after 12 days of

           recuperation from the Hinckley assasination attempt.

   In 1984 Soyuz T-11 returns to Earth.

   In 1984 Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Konstantin U. Chernenko is

           named president of the Soviet Union.

   In 1985 Scientists announce that they have measured the exact distance to

           the moon, give or take an inch.

   In 1985 Controversy erupts when President Reagan announces plans to lay a

           wreath at a cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, where Nazi SS

           soldiers were buried.

   In 1986 Two FBI agents are killed in a wild shootout in Miami that also

           resulted in the deaths of two robbery suspects.

   In 1986 American sailor Dodge Morgan sets the solo around-the-world record

           at 150 days.

   In 1987 South Africa bans protests on behalf of detainees.

   In 1988 Pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim hijackers of a Kuwait Airways jetliner

           kill a second hostage, dumping his body onto the ground in Larnaca,

           Cyprus.

   In 1988 "The Last Emperor" wins Best Picture at the 60th Academy Awards.

           Cher won Best Actress for "Moonstruck" and Michael Douglas is named

           Best Actor for "Wall Street."

   In 1989 Mexican police found the graves of 13 murder victims just across

           the border from Brownsville, TX. The victims had been killed in a

           ritual as good-luck sacrifices by a drug operation.

   In 1990 Funeral services are held in Indianapolis for AIDS patient Ryan

           White, who had died three days earlier at age 18.

   In 1991 The United Nations Security Council announced a formal end to the

           Persian Gulf War.

   In 1991 The space shuttle Atlantis lands safely after an extended, 93-orbit

           mission that included deployment of an observatory.

   In 1992 The Russian Congress rejects an appeal by President Boris Yeltsin

           for another 6 months to carry out his economic reforms.

   In 1993 A deadly riot erupts at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in

           Lucasville; one guard and nine inmates were killed during the 11-day

           siege.

   In 1994 The White House discloses that President and Mrs. Clinton had failed

           to report $6,498 in income that the first lady made in commodities

           trading in 1980; the couple wrote checks totaling $14,615 in back

           taxes and interest.

   In 1994 The White House discloses that President and Mrs. Clinton had failed

           to report $6,498 dollars in income that the first lady made in

           commodities trading in 1980; the couple wrote checks totaling

           $14,615 in back taxes and interest.

   In 1996 Jessica Dubroff, a 7-year-old girl who hoped to become the youngest

           person to fly cross-country, is killed along with her father and

           flight instructor when her small plane crashes.

   In 1997 Fire damages 500-year-old San Giovanni Cathedral, home of the Shroud

           of Turin, which some consider Christ's burial cloth.

   In 1998 Northern Ireland's biggest political party, the Ulster Unionists,

           backs a historic peace agreement.

   In 1999 Jose Maria Olazabal wins the Masters by 2 shots over Davis Love III.

   In 2000 A French anti-racism group files suit against Yahoo! Inc. claiming

           it hosted illegal auctions of Nazi-related paraphernalia.

   In 2000 A British judge brands historian David Irving as an anti-Semite

           racist and an apologist for Adolf Hitler, ruling that an American

           scholar was justified in calling him a Holocaust denier.

   In 2001 Ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agrees to free the 24 crew

           members of an American spy plane.

   In 2001 A stampede at a crowded soccer stadium in Johannesburg, South

           Africa, kills 43 people.

   In 2003 Ten of the main suspects in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole escape 

           from prison in Yemen. 

   In 2016 Barber Shop Quartet Day