Today In History...

• In 1789 Georgetown University is established in present-day Washington, DC.
• In 1845 Congress decides that all national elections are to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
• In 1849 English-born Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree.
• In 1916 Montana sets the world's record for a temperature change in 24hours dropping from 44 degrees to 56 below zero.
• In 1920 The Dutch government refuses demands from the victorious Allies to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany.
• In 1932 New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• In 1937 17 people, including Karl Radek, go on trial in Moscow during Josef Stalin's "Great Purge."
• In 1942 Congress appropriates $12.5 billion to purchase 33,000 airplane
• In 1947 NBC broadcasts the first educational program.
• In 1950 The Israeli Knesset approves a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
• In 1964 The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified eliminating poll taxes in federal elections.
• In 1968 North Korea seizes the American intelligence-gathering ship USS Pueblo, killing one crewman and taking 82 hostage, charging it had intruded North Korean territorial waters on a spying mission.
• In 1971 The temperature hits 80 below zero at Prospect Creek, Alaska.
• In 1973 President Richard Nixon announces a cease fire in Vietnam and that an accord had been reached to end the war.
• In 1977 The miniseries "Roots," based on the Alex Haley novel, premieres on ABC-TV.
• In 1982 A World Airways DC-10 skids off a Logan Airport runway into Boston harbor, killing 2 passengers.
• In 1983 The "A-Team" premieres on NBC-TV.
• In 1983 The Pentagon announces that an out-of-control, radioactive Soviet spy satellite crashed in the mid-Indian Ocean.
• In 1983 Bjorn Born retires from tennis competition at age 26.
• In 1984 President Reagan nominates White House Counselor Edwin Meese to succeed William French Smith as U.S. Attorney General.
• In 1985 A debate in Britain's House of Lords is carried live on television for the first time as part of an experiment.
• In 1986 New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe and her crew-mates arrive in Cape Canaveral, FL, to prepare for their ill fated-flight aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
• In 1988 More than 50,000 Israelis demonstrate in Tel Aviv to protest the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
• In 1989 Earthquakes and mudslides destroy dozens of villages in Soviet Central Asia.
• In 1989 Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali dies in Spain at age 84.
• In 1990 The 101st Congress convenes its second session, facing an agenda that included clean air legislation and deficit reduction.
• In 1991 After some 12,000 sorties in the Gulf War, General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said allied forces had achieved air superiority, and would focus air fire on Iraqi ground forces around Kuwait.
• In 1992 47 nations, including the U.S., agree on a massive global effort to provide food and medicine to millions of hungry people in the former Soviet Union.
• In 1993 FBI Director William Sessions dismissed a Justice Department report accusing him of ethical abuses, accusing former Attorney General William P. Barr of a "crassly calculated attack."
• In 1988 More than 50,000 Israelis demonstrate in Tel Aviv to protest the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
• In 1989 Earthquakes and mudslides destroy dozens of villages in Soviet Central Asia.
• In 1989 Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali dies in Spain at age 84.
• In 1990 The 101st Congress convenes its second session, facing an agenda that included clean air legislation and deficit reduction.
• In 1991 After some 12,000 sorties in the Gulf War, General Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said allied forces had achieved air superiority, and would focus air fire on Iraqi ground forces around Kuwait.
• In 1992 47 nations, including the U.S., agree on a massive global effort to provide food and medicine to millions of hungry people in the former Soviet Union.
• In 1993 FBI Director William Sessions dismissed a Justice Department report accusing him of ethical abuses, accusing former Attorney General William P. Barr of a "crassly calculated attack."
• In 1995 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that companies accused of illegally firing employees could not escape liability by later finding a lawful reason to justify the dismissal.
• In 1999 In his visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II urges his followers in the Americas to make the region a "continent of life."
• In 2001 Five Falun Gong followers set themselves on fire in China's Tiananmen Square, killing one.
• In 2002 President Bush proposes the biggest defense spending increase in over 20 years.
• In 2002 John Walker Lindh, a U.S.-born Taliban fighter, is returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges that he'd conspired to kill fellow Americans.
• In 2002 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is abducted in Karachi, Pakistan; He was later murdered.
• In 2004 The long running sitcom "Friends" films its final episode.
• In 2004 Children's TV host Bob Keeshan, known as Captain Kangaroo, dies from a long illness. He was 76.
• In 2005 Johnny Carson, host of the "Tonight Show" host for 30 years before retiring in 1992, dies of emphysema. He was 79.