Today In History...

In 1492 The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrenders to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

In 1776 The first revolutionary flag is displayed.

In 1788 Georgia becomes the 4th U.S. state.

In 1893 The U.S. Postal Service issues its first adhesive commemorative stamps to honor Christopher Columbus' voyage.

In 1900 U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the "Open Door Policy" to facilitate trade with China.

In 1921 Religious services are broadcast for the first time when KDKA in Pittsburgh aired the regular Sunday services of the city's Calvary Episcopal Church.

In 1929 The U.S. and Canada reach an agreement to preserve Niagara Falls.

In 1935 Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial in Flemington, NJ, on charges of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles A. Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later found guilty, and executed.

In 1939 Time Magazine names German chancellor Adolf Hitler Man of the Year.

In 1942 The Philippine capital of Manila is captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

In 1942 The film "Yankee Doodle Dandy" starring Jimmy Cagney opens.

In 1952 Libya becomes a independent constitutional monarchy.

In 1955 President Jose Antonio Remon of Panama is assassinated.

In 1959 USSR launches Mechta, the first lunar probe and misses the moon.

In 1960 Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1965 The New York Jets sign University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported $400,000.

In 1968 Dr. Christian Barnard performs first successful heart transplant.

In 1972 Mariner IX begins mapping Mars.

In 1974 President Nixon signs legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph.

In 1983 The musical play "Annie," based on the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, closes on Broadway after 2,377 performances.

In 1984 W. Wilson Goode, the son of a sharecropper, is sworn in as Philadelphia's first black mayor.

In 1985 President Ronald Reagan condemns abortion clinic arson attacks.

In 1985 Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone visits President Reagan in Los Angeles, where they discussed ways of opening up Japanese markets to U.S. goods.

In 1986 Baseball owner Bill Veeck dies in Chicago at age 71.

In 1988 Millions of gallons of oil spill into the Monongahela River about 20 miles upstream from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In 1988 21 are killed and 14 are wounded in sea and air strikes by Israeli forces at Palestine targets in Lebanon.

In 1988 President Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sign an agreement to lift trade restrictions between the two countries.

In 1990 The Dow Jones Industrial Average ends the day above 2,800 for the first time, at 2,810.15.

In 1991 European, Soviet and Arab officials push for talks to avert war with Iraq.

In 1991 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC, becoming the first black woman to head a city of Washington's size.

In 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsin lifts price controls to stimulate production.

In 1992 Military commanders in Croatia agree to a cease-fire accord, the 15th attempt at a truce.

In 1993 President Bush arrives in Moscow to sign a strategic arms treaty with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

In 1995 The U.S. boosts to $9 billion the line of credit it is providing Mexico to defend the peso against further devaluation.

In 1995 Marion Barry is inaugurated as mayor of Washington, DC, four years after leaving the office in disgrace to serve a six-month sentence for misdemeanor drug possession.

In 1996 Former U.S. Interior Secretary James Watt pleads guilty to misdemeanor count of attempting to sway a grand jury investigating 1980s influence-peddling at the Department of Housing and Urban
Development.

In 1996 AT&T announces it would eliminate 40,000 jobs, mostly through layoffs.

In 1997 Rain and melting snow swamp the West, trapping visitors in Yosemite National Park, closing Reno's casinos, forcing evacuation of 50,000 Californians.

In 1998 Russia circulates new rubles in an effort to check inflation and promote confidence.

In 1999 A UN-chartered cargo plane carrying nine people is downed in Angola's central highland war zone; there were no survivors.

In 2000 Retired Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., known early in his career for modernizing the Navy and later for ordering the spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam, dies at age 79.

In 2001 President-elect Bush names Democrat Norman Y. Mineta to be his transportation secretary and Spencer Abraham to be energy secretary.

In 2001 Ships make the first legal and direct crossing between China and Taiwan in more than 50 years.

In 2002 Eduardo Duhalde is sworn in as Argentina's president.

In 2004 The NASA spacecraft Stardust flys through the halo of the distant comet Wild 2.

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