Today In History...

In 1684 A patent was granted for the thimble.
In 1792 A highwayman named Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.
In 1859 Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.
In 1898 The United States formally declared war on Spain.
In 1901 New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. The fee was one dollar.
In 1910 Atlanta received an inch and a half of snow, setting the record for their season's latest freeze and snowfall.
In 1915 During World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of the war.
In 1928 Morris Frank received the first guide dog for the blind, a German Shepherd named Buddy.
In 1945 Delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
In 1945 During World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up near Torgau, Germany, on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses.
In 1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.
In 1961 Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit.
In 1962 The Seattle World's Fair officially opened.
In 1980 The White House announced the failure of the Iran hostage-rescue mission.
In 1982 By Camp David, Israel completed Sinai withdrawal.
In 1982 During the Falklands War, South Georgia Island was retaken by British commandos.
In 1983 The sailplane distance record was set at 1022 miles.
In 1983 Soviet leader Yuri Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl had expressed fears of nuclear war.
In 1983 The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, beginning an endless voyage through the Milky Way.
In 1984 David Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, died at age 28 of a possible drug overdose.
In 1985 257 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Reagan, urging him to cancel his planned visit to the German military cemetery at Bitburg.
In 1986 Britain expelled 300 Libyan student pilots and aircraft mechanics.
In 1986 President Reagan left Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on the first leg of a 13-day journey to the Far East that included an international economic summit in Tokyo.
In 1988 A judge in Jerusalem sentenced John Demjanjuk to death after the retired Ohio autoworker was convicted of being "Ivan the Terrible," a Nazi death camp guard who killed tens of thousands of people.
In 1988 Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita announced his resignation to take responsibility for his involvement in Japan's "Recruit" stock scandal.
In 1989 Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita announced his resignation to take responsibility for his involvement in Japan's Recruit stock scandal.
In 1990 Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending eleven years of leftist Sandinista rule.
In 1990 The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery.
In 1991 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, facing harsh criticism during a closed-door meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee, offered to resign as party leader, which was rejected.
In 1992 Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.
In 1992 An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale shook northern California.
In 1993 Hundreds of thousands of gay rights activists and their supporters march in Washington, DC, demanding equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
In 1994 Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa and Cabinet resigned. Conservative Tsutomu Hata becomes prime minister.
In 1995 Actress/dancer Ginger Rogers dies at age 83.
In 1996 A day after the PLO annulled clauses calling for Israel's destruction, Israel's governing Labor Party abandoned its long-standing opposition to a Palestinian state.
In 1997 A federal judge ruled that the FDA could regulate tobacco as a drug but said it couldn't restrict cigarette advertising.
In 1998 Whitewater prosecutors questioned the first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
In 1999 More than 70,000 mourners gathered in Littleton, CO, to remember the Columbine High School massacre victims.
In 1999 Lord Killanin, former president of the International Olympic Committee, died in Dublin, Ireland, at age 84.
In 2000 Zika Petrovic, an ally of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was shot and killed.
In 2000 Broadway producer David Merrick died in London at age 88.
In 2001 President Bush warned China that an attack on Taiwan could provoke a U.S. military response.
In 2001 Ousted Philippine President Joseph Estrada became the country's first leader to be arrested for alleged corruption in office.
In 2003 Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.
In 2004 Cosmetics queen Estee Lauder dies in New York at age 97.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

City Page Survey

Fall Book Discussion and Movie Series

Book discussion group to meet