Today In History...


In 1566 French astrologer, physician and prophet Nostradamus dies in Salon.

In 1776 The Continental Congress passes a resolution saying "these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States."

In 1881 President James A. Garfield is shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker. Garfield dies the following September.

In 1890 The Sherman Antitrust Act is enacted by Congress prohibiting industrial monopolies.

In 1892 The Populist Party, also known as the People's Party, opens its first national convention in Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1894 The federal government issues an injunction against striking railroad workers.

In 1917 Rioting erupts in East St. Louis, IL, as lower-paid black laborersclash with whites. The violence kills 48 people.

In 1919 A British A-4 dirigible completed the first 2-way transatlantic flight.

In 1926 The U.S. Army Air Corps is created.

In 1937 Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappear over the Pacific Ocean, while attempting to make the round-the-world flight at the equator.

In 1955 The "Lawrence Welk Show" premieres on ABC-TV.

In 1957 "Grayback" is the first submarine to fire guided missles.

In 1959 Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" premieres in U.S. theaters.

In 1961 Author Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death in Ketchum, Idaho.

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy meets Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.

In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.

In 1976 The U.S. Supreme Court rules the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual punishment.

In 1977 Bjorn Borg wins Wimbeldon men's singles over Jimmy Connors.

In 1980 "Airplane!" starring Robert Hays and featuring Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges, opens in U.S. theaters.

In 1981 The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had the legal authority to nullify court orders and suspend private lawsuits in order to carry out the
agreement with Tehran that ended the Iran hostage crisis.

In 1982 Soyuz T-6 returns to Earth.

In 1982 Larry Walters ties 42 helium-filled weather balloons to a lawn chair and rides the contraption to 18,000 feet over San Pedro, California.

In 1983 Martina Navratilova captures the Wimbledon women's title with a victory over Andrea Jaeger.

In 1984 Former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko dies at age 79.

In 1985 President Reagan greets the freed TWA hostages on their arrival at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

In 1985 Proto is launched on its way to Halley's Comet.

In 1985 The sitcom "Alice" ends its 9-year-run on CBS-TV.

In 1986 In two separate rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds "affirmativeaction" as a remedy for past job discrimination.

In 1987 18 illegal aliens are found dead inside a locked boxcar near Sierra Blanca, TX, in what authorities call a botched smuggling attempt.

In 1987 "Chorus Line" Director Michael Bennet dies of aids at age 44.

In 1987 Accused Nazi Karl Linnas dies of heart failure in Russia.

In 1988 19-year-old Steffi Graf defeats 8-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova to capture her first Wimbledon crown.

In 1990 More than 1400 Muslim pilgrims are killed in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

In 1991 Actress Lee Remick dies in Los Angeles at age 55.

In 1991 A European Community-brokered truce between Yugoslavia and the breakaway republic of Slovenia is broken when the federal army battled Slovene militias.

In 1991 Actress Lee Remick dies in Los Angeles at age 55.

In 1992 The Labor Department reports that the nation's unemployment rate theprevious month had risen to an 8-year high of 7.8 percent.

In 1992 President George H.W. Bush vetoes the so-called "motor-voter" registration bill. (President Clinton later signed a revised version into law).

In 1993 Actor Fred Gywnn ("Munsters") dies of pancreatic cancer at age 66.

In 1993 The White House acknowledges that it had erred in firing seven travel office employees and urging the FBI to investigate them.

In 1993 Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, some of whose followers were accused in the bombing of the World Trade Center, surrender to immigration officials in New York.

In 1994 A USAir DC-9 crashes in poor weather at Charlotte-DouglasInternational Airport in North Carolina, killing 37 of the 57 people aboard.

In 1994 Colombian soccer player Andres Escobar is shot to death in Medellin, 10 days after accidentally scoring a goal against his own team in World Cup competition.

In 1994 Conchita Martinez wins the women's title at Wimbledon, defeating Martina Navratilova.

In 1995 In Denver, representatives of 34 countries end an economic summit by endorsing an open-market zone throughout the Western Hemisphere -- excluding Cuba.

In 1996 Lyle and Erik Menendez are sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shotgun deaths of their parents.

In 1996 Electricity and phone service is knocked out for millions of customers from Canada to the Southwest after power lines throughout the West failed on a record-hot day.

In 1997 Actor Jimmy Stewart ("It's A Wonderful Life") dies at age 89.

In 1998 CNN retracts, and apologizes for, report that U.S. forces may haveused nerve gas on American defectors in Vietnam.

In 1999 Former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong is shot to death in Skokie, IL.

In 1999 "The Godfather" author Mario Puzo dies at age 78.

In 2000 Opposition candidate Vicente Fox wins Mexico's presidential election, ending the Institutional Revolutionary Party's 71-year reign.

In 2001 Robert Tools receives the world's first self-contained artificial heart in Louisville, KY. (He lived 151 days with the device.)

In 2002 American Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world as he returned to western Australia.

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