Today In History...

   In 1536 Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII, is

           beheaded for adultery.

   In 1588 The Spanish Armada sets sail for England; it was soundly defeated by

           the English fleet the following August.

   In 1643 Delegates from four New England colonies meet in Boston to form a

           confederation.

   In 1780 The Great Mystery Blackout plunges New England and parts of Canada

           in near-total darkness as the sun disappeared at midday. (The cause

           has never been determined.)

   In 1906 The Federated Boys' Clubs, forerunner of the Boys' Clubs of America,

           is organized.

   In 1921 Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act, which established national

           quotas for immigrants entering the U.S.

   In 1926 Thomas Edison speaks on the radio for the first time.

   In 1935 T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," is killed in a

           motorcycle accident in England.

   In 1943 In an address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston

           Churchill pledges full support in the war against Japan.

   In 1958 U.S. and Canada establish the North American Air Defense Command.

   In 1964 The State Department discloses that 40 hidden microphones had been

           found in the U.S. embassy in Moscow.

   In 1967 The Soviet Union ratifies a treaty with the U.S. and Britain banning

           nuclear weapons from outer space.

   In 1983 About 20,000 people march in solemn silence to a cemetery in Warsaw,

           Poland, to mourn a teenager (Gregory Przemyk) who died in police

           custody.

   In 1984 The Edmonton Oilers win their first Stanley Cup, defeating the

           four-time defending champion New York Islanders in five games.

   In 1986 The U.S. Supreme Court rules government agents in the air do not

           need search warrants to look down into private areas.

   In 1988 Carlos Lehder Rivas, co-founder of Colombia's drug cartel, is

           convicted in Jacksonville, FL, for smuggling more than 3 tons of

           cocaine into the U.S.

   In 1989 The NCAA announces sanctions against the University of Kentucky's

           basketball program for recruiting and academic violations.

   In 1989 On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average passes the 2,500

           mark, closing at a record 2,501.10.

   In 1990 The U.S. and the Soviet Union sign an agreement to destroy chemical

           weapons.

   In 1991 Martial-law courts in Kuwait begin trying people accused of

           collaborating with Iraqi occupation forces, sentencing one man to

           life in prison for wearing a Saddam Hussein t-shirt.

   In 1992 The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits

           Congress from giving itself mid-term pay raises, goes into effect.

   In 1992 Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes the TV show "Murphy Brown" for

           having its title character decide to bear a child out of wedlock.

   In 1992 Mary Jo Buttafuoco is shot and seriously wounded by teenager Amy

           Fisher.

   In 1993 The White House sets off a political storm by abruptly firing the

           entire staff of its travel office; five of the seven staffers were

           later reinstated and assigned to other duties.

   In 1994 Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies of cancer at age

           64 in New York.

   In 1995 NASA's administrator unveils plans to slash thousands of aerospace

           jobs and to overhaul virtually every part of the agency.

   In 1996 The space shuttle Endeavour and its crew blast off and prepare for

           the release of an inflatable antenna.

   In 1997 NBC sportscaster Marv Albert is charged with biting a woman in an

           Arlington, VA, hotel as many as 15 times and forcing her to perform

           oral sex. (Albert ended up pleading guilty to assault and battery.)

   In 1998 Strikes over unpaid wages break out across Russia.

   In 1998 Bandits steal three of Rome's most important paintings from the

           National Gallery of Modern Art.

   In 1998 Millions of pagers nationwide stop working when a communications

           satellite, the Galaxy IV, suddenly lost track of Earth.

   In 2001 The Arab League calls on Arab governments to sever political

           contacts with Israel until the Jewish state ended military action

           against Palestinians.

   In 2002 Walter Lord, author of "A Night To Remember," a minute-by-minute 

           retelling of the "Titanic" tragedy, dies at age 84. 

   In 2003 The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 6-3, that a state may try to force 

           drug companies to lower prices on prescription medications for the 

           poor and uninsured. 

   In 2004 Millionaire philanthropist Jack Eckerd, founder of the drugstore 

           empire that bears his name, dies at age 91.