Today In History...

   In 1663 King Charles II signs the Carolina Charter.

   In 1830 Joseph Smith organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day

           Saints (the Mormon Church) in Fayette, New York.

   In 1862 The Civil War Battle of Shiloh begins as the Confederate Army

           attacks Union forces in Tennessee.

   In 1868 Brigham Young marries wife number 27, his final.

   In 1896 The first modern Olympic Games begin in Athens, Greece.

   In 1906 The first animated cartoon is copyrighted.

   In 1909 American explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first

           men to reach the North Pole.

   In 1917 The U.S. declares war on Germany and enters World War I.

   In 1926 4 planes take off on the first successful around-the world flight.

   In 1931 The Hostess "Twinkie" goes on sale.

   In 1936 A tornado kills 203 people at Gainesville, Georgia.

   In 1963 The U.S. and Britain sign an agreement under which the Americans

           would sell "Polaris" A-3 missiles to the British.

   In 1965 The U.S. launches the Early Bird communications satellite.

   In 1983 The longest boxing match (using gloves) is set at 110 rounds.

   In 1984 The space shuttle Challenger is launched for the fifth time.

   In 1985 American diver Randal Dickison sets the world record for high

           diving by plunging into Ocean Park at Hong Kong.

   In 1985 William J. Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart recipient to

           be discharged from the hospital when he moves into an apartment in

           Louisville, Kentucky.

   In 1987 The Dow Jones average closes above 2,400 for the first time.

   In 1987 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Texaco should post a $10 billion

           bond while appeals of the Pennzoil decision were heard.

   In 1987 Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler to become

           middleweight champion.

   In 1987 Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline"

           that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to hold

           managerial jobs in major-league baseball.

   In 1988 Tirza Porat, a 15-year-old girl, is killed in a West Bank melee,

           becoming the first Israeli civilian to die in the occupied

           territories since the Palestinian uprising began.

   In 1988 Tirza Porat, 15, is killed in a West Bank melee, becoming the first

           Israeli civilian to die in the occupied territories since the start

           of the Palestinian uprising.

   In 1989 Oliver North testifies that three superiors ordered him to help

           the Contras.

   In 1989 Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev meets with British Prime Minister

           Margaret Thatcher in London.

   In 1990 Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard

           Shevardnadze conclude 3 days of talks in Washington.

   In 1992 The U.S. Supreme Court limited some undercover sting operations as

           it rules that a Nebraska farmer had been entrapped by postal agents

           into buying mail-order pornography.

   In 1992 Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov dies in New York at age 72.

   In 1993 In a televised speech a year after ethnic warfare erupted in Bosnia,

           the president of the Muslim-led government, Alija Izetbegovic,

           compares the destructive nationalism to Nazism.

   In 1994 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announces his

           retirement.

   In 1994 The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi are killed in a mysterious

           plane crash near Rwanda's capital.

   In 1994 A Palestinian suicide-bomber killed seven Israelis in an attack on a

           bus in Afula.

   In 1996 A stolen truck carrying illegal immigrants overturns in Temecula,

           CA, killing eight people.

   In 1996 Actress Greer Garson dies in Dallas at age 92.

   In 1997 On 5th anniversary of the Bosnian war, descendants of former

           Hapsburg rulers visit the site where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was

           shot, triggering World War I.

   In 1997 NASA officials cut short the 16-day mission of space shuttle

           Columbia by 12 days because of a deteriorating power generator.

   In 1997 A blizzard shuts down much of the northern Plains.

   In 1997 Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke dies at age 84.

   In 1998 Federal researchers say daily tamoxifen pills may cut breast cancer

           risk among high-risk women.

   In 1998 Pakistan successfully tests medium-range missile capable of

           attacking neighboring India.

   In 1998 U.S. Energy Secretary Federico Pena announces his resignation.

   In 2000 The father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrives in the

           U.S. to press for return of his son to Cuba.

   In 2002 President Bush repeats his call for Israel to "withdraw without 

           delay" from West Bank towns it had occupied since launching an 

           offensive after a string of suicide attacks.

   In 2005 Monaco's Prince Rainier III, who married American star Grace Kelly

           in 1956, dies at 81. He had been Europe's longest-reigning monarch.