Today In History...

In 1812 The U.S.S. Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, defeats the British frigate Guerriere during the War of 1812.
In 1848 The New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California.
In 1891 William Huggins describes astronomical application of spectrum.
In 1929 The comedy program "Amos and Andy" debuts on NBC Radio.
In 1934 Germany gives sole executive power to Adolf Hitler as Fuehrer.
In 1942 More than 100,000 Canadian and British soldiers are killed in a raid against the Germans in Dieppe, France, during World War II.
In 1942 The first American offensive in Pacific during World War II takes place at Guadalcanal.
In 1950 ABC begins the tradition of Saturday morning children's shows.
In 1951 The owner of the St. Louis Browns, Bill Veeck, sends in Eddie Gaedel, a 3-foot, 7-inch midget, to pinch-hit in a game against Detroit. Gaedel, whose function was to draw walks, was later barred from the game.
In 1955 Severe flooding in the Northwest caused by the remnants of Hurricane Diane claims over 200 lives.
In 1960 Sputnik 5 carries 3 dogs into orbit.
In 1960 American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is convicted of espionage by the USSR and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 1974 U.S. Ambassador Rodger P. Davies is fatally wounded by a bullet that penetrated the American embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, during an anti-American protest.
In 1976 President Ford wins the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Kansas City.
In 1977 Actor/comedian Groucho Marx dies in Los Angeles at age of 86.
In 1979 The crew of Soyuz 32 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 34.
In 1980 301 people aboard a Saudi Arabian L-1011 die as the jetliner made a fiery emergency landing at the Riyadh airport.
In 1981 Two U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down a pair of Soviet-built Libyan S-U-22's in a dogfight over the southern Mediterranean.
In 1981 The crime drama "Charlie's Angels" airs for the last time on ABC-TV.
In 1982 Soyuz T-7 is launched.
In 1983 Southeastern Texas begins cleaning up from the ravages of Hurricane Alicia, which had left 22 dead and a billion dollars in damages.
In 1984 The world record for crawling is set at 27 miles.
In 1987 A third convoy of U.S. warships and reflagged Kuwaiti tankers slip into the Persian Gulf before dawn and headed up the waterway behind a screen of mine-seeking helicopters.
In 1988 Republican vice-presidential nominee Dan Quayle defends his service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War, and insisted he had gotten in fairly.
In 1990 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offers to free all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait if the U.S. would promise to withdraw its forces from Saudi Arabia.
In 1991 A Soviet coalition of hard-line communists stage a coup d'etat removing Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev from power for 3 days.
In 1991 Riots erupted in the Brooklyn, NY, neighborhood of Crown Heights after a black 7-year-old, Gavin Cato, was struck and killed by a Jewish driver. A gang of blacks fatally stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum, a rabbinical student.
In 1992 The third night of the Republican national convention in Houston, billed as "family values night," featured first lady Barbara Bush.
In 1993 Dr. George Tiller is shot and wounded outside an abortion clinic in Wichita, KS, by Rachelle Shannon, who was later sentenced to eleven years in prison.
In 1993 11-year TV sitcom "Cheers" airs on NBC for the last time.
In 1995 Robert Frasure, the chief U.S. negotiator for Bosnia; Joseph Kruzel, a deputy assistant secretary of defense; and Samuel Nelson Drew, an Air Force colonel at the National Security Council are killed when their vehicle crashes and burns near Sarajevo.
In 1996 Ralph Nader is nominated as Green Party's first presidential candidate.
In 1996 A judge sentences former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker to four years' probation for his Whitewater crimes.
In 1997 67-year-old Carl Drega, of Colebrook, NH, shoots and kills a part time judge, two state troopers and a newspaper editor before being killed in a gun battle with police.
In 1998 A federal appeals court says Internet companies don't have to pay fees to support nation's telephone system.
In 2000 Hugo Chavez takes the oath of office as president of Venezuela after a landslide re-election.
In 2000 Norwegian divers go down to the sunken Russian submarine Kursk looking for survivors among the 188 seamen that had been trapped for a week.
In 2001 An underground methane and coal dust explosion in the Ukraine kills 55 miners.
In 2002 A Russian military helicopter crashes after being shot down by rebels in Chechnya, killing 119 people.
In 2003 A suicide truck bomb struck U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
In 2019 National Aviation Day

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