Today In History...

   In 1854 Richmond, Virginia, falls to Union forces during the Civil War.

   In 1870 Manitoba becomes a Canadian province.

   In 1896 The New York City Department of Health passes a health ordinance

           prohibiting spitting on the sidewalks or in other public places.

   In 1932 The body of the kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in a

           wooded area of Hopewell, New Jersey.

   In 1933 The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Agricultural

           Adjustment Administration are established to provide help for the

           needy and farmers.

   In 1937 Britain's King George VI is crowned at Westminster Abbey along with

           Queen Elizabeth.

   In 1943 Axis forces in North Africa surrender during World War II.

   In 1949 The Berlin blockade ends as the Soviet Union announces the reopening

           of East German land routes.

   In 1958 The North American Defense Command is founded.

   In 1965 West Germany and Israel begin diplomatic relations.

   In 1970 The Senate confirms Harry A. Blackmun to the U.S. Supreme Court.

   In 1975 The White House announces the new Cambodian government has seized

           the Mayaguez, an American merchant ship, in international waters.

   In 1978 The Commerce Department announces that hurricanes would no longer be

           named exclusively after women.

   In 1982 Security guards prevent a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet from

           reaching Pope John Paul II.

   In 1983 The Senate Appropriations Committee votes, 17-11, to approve the

           release of $625 million for development of the M-X missle that had

           been blocked by Congress.

   In 1984 The World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana (it eventually goes

           bankrupt).

   In 1985 Convicted Illinois rapist Gary Dotson is pardoned after his alleged

           victim retracted her charges.

   In 1986 A Soviet government statement reports six deaths from burns and

           radiation in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

   In 1987 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rejects Foreign Minister

           Shimon Peres' proposal for an international Middle East peace

           conference, calling it "perverse and criminal."

   In 1988 U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister

           Eduard Shevardnadze, meeting in Geneva, resolve nearly all remaining

           questions on an intermediate-range missle treaty.

   In 1989 The nation's largest airline computer reservation system, the

           American Airlines Sabre system, shuts down for nearly 12 hours,

           disrupting the operations of travel agencies nationwide.

   In 1991 Syrian President Hafez Assad, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State

           James A. Baker III, refused to yield on key demands for joining a

           Middle East peace conference.

   In 1992 Four suspects are arrested in the televised beating of trucker

           Reginald Denny, which occurred at the start of the Los Angeles

           riots.

   In 1992 Robert Reed, of the TV's "The Brady Bunch," dies at age 59.

   In 1993 President Clinton proposes putting all money raised from new taxes

           and spending cuts into a trust fund dedicated solely to reducing the

           nation's huge budget deficit.

   In 1994 British Labor Party leader John Smith dies unexpectedly at age 55.

   In 1995 President Clinton, during a stopover in Ukraine, visits Babi Yar,

           the site where more than 30,000 Kiev Jews were massacred by the

           Nazis in 1941.

   In 1996 Authorities in Florida call off the search for possible survivors

           from the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, a day after the jetliner

           nose-dived into the Everglades with 110 people on board.

   In 1997 Australia's Susie Maroney, the first woman to cross the straits,

           swims 118 miles from Cuba to Florida.

   In 1997 Russia and Chechnya formally end a two-year war but avoid the key

           issue of Chechen independence.

   In 1997 South Africa's ruling party admits to bombings, murders and torture

           in the fight against apartheid.

   In 1997 At the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh, star

           prosecution witness Michael Fortier testifies that McVeigh had been

           bent on triggering a "general uprising in America."

   In 1998 A day after India's first atomic test blasts in 24 years,

           neighboring Pakistan said it was ready to test a nuclear device.

   In 1998 Indonesian President Suharto's security forces kill at least six

           student demonstrators.

   In 2002 Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president --

           in or out of office -- to visit since the 1959 revolution that put 

           Fidel Castro in power. 

   In 2002 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party rejects the 

           creation of a Palestinian state. 

   In 2003 59 Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas House to a standstill by 

           going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional 

           redistricting plan. 

   In 2004 NBC merges with the Universal television.

   In 2014 Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who designed the creature in Ridley 

           Scott's sci-fi horror classic "Alien," dies at age 74.