Today In History...

   In 1775 Benjamin Franklin becomes the first Postmaster General.
   In 1788 New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the constitution.
   In 1908 U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issues an order creating
           an investigative agency within the Department of Justice that was a
           forerunner of the F.B.I.
   In 1945 Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's prime minister after his
           Conservatives were soundly defeated in elections by the Labor Party.
   In 1947 President Truman signs the National Security Act, which created the
           Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the CIA and
           the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
   In 1948 The first black host of a network show - CBS's Bob Howard Show.
   In 1952 King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates in the wake of a coup led by Gamal
           Abdel Nasser.
   In 1952 Argentina's first lady, Eva Peron dies in Buenos Aires at age 33.
   In 1952 Mickey Mantle hits his first grand slam homerun.
   In 1953 Fidel Castro begins his revolt against the regime of Fulgencio
           Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barricks in eastern
           Cuba. (Castro finally ousts Batista in 1959.)
   In 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes control of the Suez
           Canal from the French and the British.
   In 1956 William Rankin sets the record for the World's Longest Parachute
           Jump when thermals caught his chute and kept him up in the for
           40 minutes.
   In 1957 The USSR launches the first intercontinental multi-stage ballistic
           missle.
   In 1964 Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others are convicted of
           fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund.
   In 1969 The bed-pushing record is set at 3233 miles.
   In 1971 The U.S. launches Apollo XV to the moon from Cape Kennedy.
   In 1977 Fire destroyed 216 homes at Montecito, California.
   In 1980 Joe Bowen sets the stilt endurance record by walking 3008 miles.
   In 1981 President Reagan flys a group of Democratic congressmen to a
           barbecue at Camp David, MD, where he lobbied them to support his
           tax-cut program.
   In 1982 Canada's Anik D1 comsat is launched by a U.S. delta rocket.
   In 1982 The government forges a record $4.5 billion bailout of Continental
           Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, which was plagued by bad
           loans and loss of depositor confidence.
   In 1985 The U.N. Security Council approves a resolution condemning South
           Africa's declaration of a state of emergency and calling for
           limited, voluntary sanctions against the Pretoria government.
   In 1986 Shortest televised fight in history, Mike Tyson knocks out Joe
           Frazier in 30 seconds.
   In 1986 Kidnappers in Lebanon release the Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco, an
           American hostage held for nearly 19 months.
   In 1988 UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar meets with Iran's
           foreign minister in the first formal talks about a cease-fire for
           the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq.
   In 1989 Mark Wellman, a 29-year-old paraplegic, reaches the summit of El
           Capitan in Yosemite National Park after hauling himself up the
           granite cliff six inches at a time over nine days.
   In 1990 The U.S. House of Representatives reprimand Congressman Barney
           Frank, D-MA, for ethics violations.
   In 1990 President Bush signs into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.
   In 1990 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that an unidentified
           young woman, later identified as Kimberly Bergalis, had been
           infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.
   In 1991 Secretary of State James A. Baker III addresses Mongolia's first
           legislature chosen in multi-party elections.
   In 1992 Iraq agrees to permit weapons inspectors to search the Agriculture
           Ministry in Baghdad.
   In 1993 Retired General Matthew B. Ridgway dies at age 98.
   In 1994 A car bomb heavily damages the Israeli Embassy in London, injuring
           fourteen.
   In 1994 The House Banking Committee opens limited hearings on the Whitewater
           controversy.
   In 1995 The U.S. Senate votes, 69-29, to unilaterally lift the U.N. embargo
           on arms shipments to Bosnia.
   In 1996 Amy Van Dyken becomes the first American woman to win four gold
           medals at a single Olympics, when she won the 50-meter freestyle
           in Atlanta, GA.
   In 1997 President Clinton visits Lake Tahoe, bringing with him $26 million
           worth of postal trucks and sewage pipes to help preserve the lake.
   In 1998 AT&T and British Telecommunications said they were forming a joint
           venture to combine international operations.
   In 1999 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her Russian counterpart,
           Igor Ivanov, announce a second Washington-Moscow hotline would be
           installed to help avoid misunderstandings like those that had
           developed over Kosovo.
   In 2000 A federal judge approves $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss
           banks and more than a half-million plaintiffs who alleged the banks
           hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.
   In 2002 The U.S. House votes, 295 to 132, to create an enormous Homeland
           Security Dept., the biggest government reorganization in decades.
   In 2003 Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary of the start of Fidel Castro's
           revolution against Fulgencio Batista.

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