Today In History...

In 1533 The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is murdered on orders from Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.
In 1708 Haverhill, Massachusetts is destroyed by the French and Indians.
In 1877 The second president of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young, dies in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1896 The Chinese-American dish of chop suey is invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang.
In 1901 Anti-booze activist Carrie Nation attacks a New York tavern belonging to heavyweight boxer John L. Sullivan with an axe.
In 1943 Responding to a clampdown by Nazi occupiers, Denmark manages to scuttle most of its naval ships.
In 1944 15,000 American troops march down the Champs Elysees in Paris as the French capital continues to celebrate its liberation from the Nazis.
In 1949 The USSR explodes its first atomic bomb.
In 1953 The cartoon character Speedy Gonzales makes its debut in the Warner Brothers cartoon "Cattails for Two."
In 1957 South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond ends a filibuster against a civil rights bill after talking for more than 24 hours.
In 1964 Walt Disney's film "Mary Poppins" is released.
In 1965 Astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad splash down in the Atlantic after completing 120 Earth orbits (8 days in space) aboard Gemini V.
In 1967 The final television episode of "The Fugitive" airs.
In 1975 Irish statesman Eamon de Valera dies near Dublin at age 92.
In 1981 Broadcaster Lowell Thomas dies in Pawling, New York, at age 89.
In 1982 The kite-flying record is set at 180 hours, 17 minutes.
In 1982 Sailor Bill Dunlop arrives in Falmouth, England, after a solo Atlantic crossing in his 9-foot, 1-inch long yacht.
In 1983 Two U.S. Marines on peacekeeping duty in Lebanon are killed when mortar shells fired by the pro-Iranian Shiite militia group Amal landed on Marine positions at the Beirut airport.
In 1983 Divers retrieve the anchor of the Civil War ironclad U.S.S. Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
In 1984 A prototype of the B-1 bomber crashes in California's Mojave Desert during a test flight, killing one crew member and injuring two others.
In 1986 The U.S. Commerce Department reports America's foreign trade deficit had soared to $18 billion the month before, with imports twice as large as exports for the first time ever.
In 1989 Voyager II flew past Neptune on its way out of the solar system sending back pictures that showed Neptune is pale blue with 8 moons.
In 1989 Seven bombs blamed by police on drug traffickers explode in Medellin and Bogota, Colombia.
In 1990 A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in a television interview that America could not defeat Iraq, saying, "I do not beg before anyone."
In 1991 In a blow to the Soviet Communist Party, the Supreme Soviet votes to suspend the activities of the organization and freeze its bank accounts because of the party's role in the failed coup.
In 1992 The U.N. Security Council agrees to send 3,000 relief troops to Somalia to guard food shipments.
In 1993 Negotiations continue between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, with Israel reported on the verge of recognizing the PLO.
In 1994 Bosnian Serbs overwhelmingly reject what was billed as a last-chance peace plan.
In 1995 At the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles, without the jury present, tape recordings of police detective Mark Fuhrman are played in which Fuhrman could be heard spouting racial invectives.
In 1996 President Clinton's political strategist, Dick Morris, resigns after tabloid reports he had disclosed sensitive White House matters to a prostitute.
In 1996 After 84 years, a 21-ton section of the hull of the Titanic is raised part of the way to surface by salvagers using giant balloons filled with diesel fuel (the operation fails, and it sinks).
In 1997 Hooded men kill more than 300 people in an Algerian farm village in the worst carnage since Islamic insurgency.
In 1998 A Cuban airliner crashes during takeoff from Quito's international airport in Ecuador, killing 80 people.
In 1999 Hurricane Dennis moves up the Carolina coasts, prompting evacuation orders for the fragile Outer Banks barrier islands.
In 2000 Pope John Paul II lays down moral guidelines for medical research in the 21st century, endorsing organ donation and adult stem cell study but condemning human cloning and embryo experiments.
In 2000 President Clinton ends a 4-day trip to Africa with a brief visit to Cairo, where he had sought the help of President Hosni Mubarak in pursuing a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 2001 George Rivas, the ringleader of the biggest prison breakout in Texas history, is sentenced to death for killing an Irving policeman, Aubrey Hawkins, while on the run.
In 2003 Rep. Bill Janklow, R-SD, is charged with felony manslaughter in a car accident that claimed the life of motorcyclist Randolph E. Scott. (He was later convicted and served 100 days in jail.)

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