Today In History...

In 1801 Washington, DC, is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.
In 1813 Congress authorizes the use of steamboats to transport mail.
In 1827 The first Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans.
In 1844 The Dominican Republic gains it's independence.
In 1861 In Warsaw, Russian troops fire on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland, killing five.
In 1879 The artificial sweetener, saccharin is discovered.
In 1883 The first practical cigar rolling machine is patented.
In 1890 Boxers Danny Needham and Patsy Kerrigan fight 100 rounds in San Francisco before the match is declared a draw.
In 1908 The design of the U.S. 46-star flag (adding Oklahoma) is officially released.
In 1919 The American Association for the Hard of Hearing is formed in New York City.
In 1922 The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed a woman's right to vote.
In 1922 Reader's Digest begins publication.
In 1932 Physicist James Chadwick proposes the existence of the neutron.
In 1933 Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, catches fire. The Nazis, blaming the Communists, suspend civil liberties.
In 1939 The U.S. Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes.
In 1945 A Ford Motor Company strike ends with an eighteen cent hourly raise.
In 1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes the first Israeli president.
In 1960 The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets, 3-2, at theWinter Games in Squaw Valley, CA. (The U.S. goes on to win the gold medal).
In 1964 City fathers in Pisa, Italy, request government assistance to prop up the leaning-too-far Tower of Pisa.
In 1972 President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issue the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's visit to China.
In 1973 The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in South Dakota. (The occupation lasts until May.)
In 1979 Jane M. Byrne upset Chicago Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win the Democratic party's mayoral primary. She later wins the election.
In 1981 Chrysler declares loses of $1,700,000,000 over the last year.
In 1982 Wayne Williams is found guilty of murdering two of 28 blacks whose bodies are found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period.
In 1984 The law prohibiting merchants from charging extra for credit card purchases expires.
In 1985 Former Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, who had served three terms asa U.S. senator and ran as the 1960 Republican vice presidential nominee, dies at age 82.
In 1986 The U.S. Senate approves telecasts of its debates on a trial basis.
In 1987 Donald Reagan is removed as White House Chief of Staff and replaced by former Senator Howard H. Baker.
In 1988 Katarina Witt wins the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada.
In 1990 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that prison officials could force inmates to take powerful anti-psychotic drugs without a judge's consent.
In 1991 Allied troops liberate Kuwait City, four days after launching a ground offensive during the Gulf War.
In 1992 William Aramony resigns as president of the United Way of America amid charges of financial mismanagement and lavish spending.
In 1992 Former U.S. senator S.I. Hayakawa dies in San Francisco at age 85.
In 1993 Actress Lillian Gish dies in New York at age 99.
In 1994 The Winter Olympics end in Lillehammer, Norway, with the U.S.taking home its highest winter gold medal total ever, 13.
In 1994 A bomb blast in a Maronite Catholic church in Lebanon kills nine and injures 60.
In 1995 Court-appointed salvagers evaluate the remaining assets ofBritain's oldest bank, Barings PLC, after 28-year-old trader Nick Leeson ruined the firm by gambling on Tokyo stock prices.
In 1997 Divorce becomes legal in Ireland for the first time since independence from Britain in 1921.
In 1997 Legislation banning most handguns becomes law in Britain.
In 1997 A jury in Fayetteville, NC, convicted former Army paratrooper James N. Burmeister of murdering a black couple so he could get ask in head tattoo. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.)
In 1999 The Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, is convicted in Largo, FL, of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers.
In 1999 Nigerians elect Olusegun Obasanjo as their new president as the country marked the final phase of its return to democracy.
In 2001 President Bush goes before Congress with a $1.9 trillion spending plan that gave Americans the biggest tax cut in two decades.
In 2002 A mob of Muslims sets fire to a train carrying hundreds of Hindu nationalists in Godhra, India, killing some 60 people.
In 2003 Fred Rogers, host of "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood," dies at age 74.
In 2004 California Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked the state's top court to stop San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. (The justices halted the weddings the following month.)
In 2006 President George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring a seven-acre plot in lower Manhattan, NY, for the African Burial Ground National Monument.
In 2013 Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City.
In 2015 Leonard Nimoy, known for his iconic character Mr. Spock on "Star Trek," dies at age 83.

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