Today In History...

In 1560 Charles IX succeeds as King Of France on the death of Francis II.


In 1776 The first American scholastic fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, is organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.


In 1792 George Washington is re-elected president of the U.S. and John Adams was re-elected vice president.


In 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte leaves his troops retreating from Russia and sets out for Paris.


In 1831 Former President John Quincy Adams takes his seat as a member of the U.S. House Of Representatives.


In 1848 In a speech to Congress, President James Polk announced that a significant amount of gold had been discovered in California, giving validity to the California Gold Rush.


In 1876 Daniel C. Stillson patents the pipe wrench.


In 1908 The first numbers are displayed on football uniforms at the University of Pittsburgh.


In 1913 Britain outlaws sending arms to Ireland.


In 1932 German physicist Albert Einstein is granted a visa to the U.S.


In 1933 Prohibition comes to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.


In 1951 "Dragnet" premieres on television.


In 1955 The boycott of segregated Montgomery city buses begins by Dr. Martin Luther King.


In 1955 The AFL and the CIO merge under president George Meany to form the ALF-CIO.


In 1974 The NFL franchise Seattle Seahawks are formed.


In 1977 Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen following Sadat's peace overtures with Israel.


In 1978 The American space probe Pioneer Venus I begins orbiting Venus, sending back its first information and pictures of the planet.


In 1979 Feminist Sonia Johnson is formerly excommunicated by the Morman Church because of her outspoken support for the ERA amendment.


In 1983 More than a dozen people are killed when a car bomb shatters a nine-story apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon.


In 1984 President Reagan pledges $100 million for African drought relief.


In 1985 The Dow Jones average tops 1500 for the first time.


In 1986 The Soviet Union said it would continue to abide by SALT II treaty limits on nuclear weapons despite the U.S. decision to exceed them, but warned that Washington was making a big mistake.


In 1988 A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicts PTL founder Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch on fraud and conspiracy charges. Bakker, convicted on all counts, served 5 years in prison.


In 1989 A high-speed French train travels 229 mph.


In 1989 East Germany's former leaders, including ousted Communist Party chief Erich Honecker, are placed under house arrest.


In 1991 Former hostage Terry Anderson is reunited with sister Peggy Say, who worked tirelessly for his release.


In 1991 Samuel K. Skinner is named White House chief of staff by President Bush, succeeding John H. Sununu.


In 1991 Richard Speck, who murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.


In 1993 A Palestinian boards a bus and opened fire with an assault rifle in the first major attack in Israel since the signing of a peace pact with the PLO.


In 1994 Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.


In 1994 President Clinton, on a visit to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Budapest, Hungary, urged European leaders to "prevent future Bosnias."


In 1995 France ends a 29-year boycott of NATO's military institutions.


In 1995 Former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo, four aides and a dozen top businessmen are indicted in a bribes-for-favors scandal.


In 1995 Former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo, four aides and a dozen top businessmen are indicted in a bribes-for-favors scandal.


In 1996 President Clinton announces his foreign policy team for second term, including Madeleine Albright as first female secretary of state; William Cohen as defense secretary; and Anthony Lake to head CIA.


In 1997 The European Union bans all tobacco advertising, except at stores that sell cigarettes, after October 2001.


In 1998 Former Senator Albert Gore Sr., father of the vice president, dies at his home in Carthage, TN; he was 90.


In 1999 Cuban President Fidel Castro demands that the U.S. return 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez, who was rescued at sea, to his father in Cuba within 72 hours.


In 2000 The American Medical Association calls on the FDA to consider making the "morning-after" pill available over the counter.


In 2001 Afghan leaders sign a pact in Koenigswinter, Germany, to create an interim government.


In 2001 Escaped convict Clayton Lee Waagner, suspected of mailing anthrax hoax letters to abortion clinics, is captured near Cincinnati.


In 2001 The space shuttle Endeavour blasts off under heavy protection on a flight to deliver a new crew to the international space station.


In 2003 The two makers of flu shots in the U.S., Chiron and Aventis Pasteur, said they had run out of vaccine and would not be able to meet a surge in demand.

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