Today In History...

   In 1642 The Canadian city of Montreal is founded.

   In 1804 The French Senate proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor.

   In 1860 The Republican Party convention in Chicago, IL, nominates Abraham

           Lincoln for president.

   In 1910 Halley's Comet, as seen from Earth, moves across the sun.

   In 1914 The first ship goes through the Panama Canal.

   In 1926 Evangelist Aimeee Semple McPherson mysteriously vanished while

           visiting a beach in Venice, CA; she reappeared a month later,

           claiming to hve been kidnapped.

   In 1927 Grauman's Chinese Theatre opens in Hollywood, California.

   In 1933 The Tennessee Valley Authority is created.

   In 1934 Congress aproves a package of anti-crime measures, including the

           so-called "Lindbergh Act," which calls for the death penalty in

           cases of interstate kidnapping.

   In 1944 During World War II, Allied forces occupy Monte Cassino in Italy

           after a four-month struggle that claimed about 20,000 lives.

   In 1951 The United Nations moves out of its temporary headquarters in Lake

           Sucess, New York, into it's permanent home in Manhattan.

   In 1953 F-86 Pilot Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the

           sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over

           Rogers Dry Lake, California.

   In 1969 Astonauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young

           blast off aboard Apollo X.

   In 1980 The Mount St. Helens volcano erupts in Washington State. The blast

           took 1,300 feet off the top of the mountain leaving 57 people dead

           or missing.

   In 1980 Students begin a 9-day uprising in Kwangju, South Korea.

   In 1983 The U.S. Senate approved, 76-18, a major revision of the nation's

           immigration laws that gave millions of illegal aliens in the U.S.

           the opportunity to gain legal status.

   In 1983 Owen Bieber is elected president of the United Auto Workers union,

           succeeding Douglas A. Fraser.

   In 1984 Surgeons remove a small polyp from President Reagan's colon.

   In 1985 The worst wildfires in the state's history hit Florida.

   In 1987 Senator Paul Simon, of Illinois, enters the Democratic presidential

           race.

   In 1988 Crowds in the Soviet town of Termez greet the first Soviet soldiers

           as they withdrew from Afghanistan.

   In 1989 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev concludes his historic visit

           to China, which officially marked the end of a 30-year Sino-Soviet

           rift.

   In 1990 Facing heated student protests, the trustees of all-women Mills

           College in Oakland, California, vote to admit men.

   In 1992 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may not force mentally

           unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs while on

           trial unless a good reason is shown to require the medication.

   In 1993 Voters in Denmark ratified the European Community's treaty on

           closer economic and political union.

   In 1994 Israel's three decades of occupation in the Gaza Strip ends as

           Israeli troops completed their withdrawal and Palestinian

           authorities took over.

   In 1995 Actress Elizabeth Montgomery dies of cancer at age 57.

   In 1995 Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov is found dead at age 45.

   In 1996 Investigators recover heat-damaged parts of oxygen canisters from

           front cargo hold of ValuJet Flight 592, evidence that fire or

           explosion may have happened before crash.

   In 1997 Tajikistan's president and his main opposition rival sign accord for

           political reforms.

   In 1997 President Clinton announces the creation of a research center at the

           National Institutes of Health devoted to the goal of developing an

           AIDS vaccine within the next decade.

   In 1998 The U.S. government files an antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.

   In 1998 Federal officials arrest more than 130 people and seize $35 million,

           ending investigation of money-laundering by a dozen Mexican banks

           and two drug-smuggling cartels.

   In 1998 The U.S. government files an antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.

   In 1999 Georgette Smith, a Florida woman left paralyzed from the neck down

           after being shot by her elderly mother, won the right to be taken

           off life support. She died the next day.

   In 2002 India and Pakistan exchange fire across their shared border, 

           renewing fears the countries were on the brink of nuclear war over 

           the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

   In 2003 A Hamas suicide attacker disguised as an observant Jew kills seven 

           Israeli bus passengers.

   In 2005 Randy Johnson, at age 40, becomes the oldest pitcher in major 

           league history to throw a perfect game. The lefty retired all 27 

           batters to lead the Diamondbacks over the Braves, 2-0.

   In 2016 Visit Your Relatives Day.