On This Day

[Kestra]

On October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1005.html#article)

On October 5, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Alabama claims, the Treaty of Washington, and the Geneva Court of Arbitration. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1005.html)

1829
Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, was born in Fairfield, Vt.

1921
The World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time.

1937
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.

1941
Former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's highest court, died at age 84.

1953
Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.

1962
The Beatles' first hit, "Love Me Do," was released in the United Kingdom.

1969
"Monty Python's Flying Circus" made its debut on BBC Television.

1983
Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1986
American Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Sandinista soldiers after the Contra supply plane he was riding in was shot down over southern Nicaragua.

1988
Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambasted Republican Dan Quayle during their vice-presidential debate, telling Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

1989
A jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicted former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his TV show to defraud followers.

1990
A jury in Cincinnati acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.

2001
Former Senate majority leader and ambassador Mike Mansfield died at age 98.

2001
A man died of inhaled anthrax in Boca Raton, Fla.

2001
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants set a new mark for home runs in a season, hitting his 71st and 72nd in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers to break Mark McGwire's record of 70 set in 1998. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.)

2003
Israel bombed an Islamic Jihad base in Syria.

2005
Defying the White House, the Senate voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.

of course giggles and company ‘ignore’ that amendment. so who were the 9 who supported torture?


· Wayne Allard - Colorado
· Kit Bond - Missouri
· Tom Coburn - Oklahoma
· Thad Cochran - Mississippi
· John Cornyn - Texas
· James Inhofe - Oklahoma
· Pat Roberts - Kansas
· Jeff Sessions - Alabama
· Ted Stevens - Alaska

[Kestra]

On Oct. 7, 1985 Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1007.html#article)

On October 7, 1876, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the New York state elections. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1007.html)

1765
The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.

1849
Author Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40.

1868
CornellUniversity was inaugurated in Ithaca, N.Y.

1879
Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein in Yanovka, Ukraine.

1949
The Republic of East Germany was formed.

1954
Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by New York's Metropolitan Opera.

1963
President John F. Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.

1968
The Motion Picture Association of America adopted a film-rating system.

1982
The musical "Cats" opened on Broadway, beginning its record run of 7,485 performances.

1985
Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard.

1996
Fox News Channel made its debut.

1998
Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside Laramie, Wyo.; he died five days later. (Two men are serving life sentences for Shepard's murder.)

1999
American Home Products Corp. agreed to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle claims that the fen-phen diet drug combination caused dangerous heart valve problems.

2001
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants wrapped up his record-breaking season with his 73rd homer, while San Diego's Rickey Henderson became the 25th player with 3,000 career hits.

2002
The Washington-area sniper struck again, shooting and critically wounding a 13-year-old boy in Bowie, Md.

2003
California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him.

2004
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated because of poor health.

2006
Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had chronicled Russian military abuses against civilians in Chechnya, was found shot to death in Moscow.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion and resigned his office. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1010.html#article)

On October 10, 1891, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about China's rejection of the new U.S. minister to that country. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1010.html)

1813
Composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Le Roncole, Italy.

1845
The U.S. Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Md.

1886
The tuxedo dinner jacket made its American debut at the autumn ball in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.

1911
Revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen overthrew China's Manchu dynasty.

1935
George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway.

1943
Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.

1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official had been refused service in a Dover, Del., restaurant.

1964
The 18th Summer Olympic Games opened in Tokyo.

1970
Fiji became independent after nearly a century of British rule.

1979
Wayne Gretzky made his National Hockey League debut as the visiting Edmonton Oilers took on the Chicago Blackhawks.

1985
U.S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, where the gunmen were taken into custody.

1985
Actor-director Orson Welles died at age 70.

2002
The House voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraq. (The Senate followed suit the next day.) a country that did not attack us. was not a threat. had no WMD's. no connection with Osama. no connection to 9\11.

2003
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh announced during his syndicated radio show that he was addicted to painkillers and was checking into a rehab center.

2004
Actor Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after a May 1995 horse riding accident, died at age 52. :(

2005
Angela Merkel struck a power-sharing deal that made her the first woman and the first politician from the ex-communist East to serve as Germany's chancellor.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 11, 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1011.html#article)

On October 11, 1873, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the response of the Grant administration to the economic panic of 1873. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1011.html)

1776
The first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought during the American Revolution.

1811
The first steam-powered ferryboat, the Juliana, was put into operation between New York City and Hoboken, N.J.

1890
The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C.

1958
The lunar probe Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far as planned, fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1962
Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Roman Catholic Church's 21st Ecumenical Council, better known as Vatican II.

1975
The sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" debuted on NBC.

1984
Space shuttle Challenger astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.

1986
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened two days of talks concerning arms control and human rights in Reykjavik, Iceland.

1991
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, law professor Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching."

1998
Pope John Paul II canonized the first Jewish-born saint of the modern era: Edith Stein, a Catholic nun killed at Auschwitz.

2002
The Senate joined the House in approving 77-23 the use of America's military might against Iraq. just another stunt pulled by giggles during an election year to get his way. "if you don't want to look 'soft on terrorism' you'll approve my power."

2002
A man filling up his car at a gas station near Fredericksburg, Va., was shot to death in the eighth slaying linked by authorities to the Washington-area sniper.

2002
Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 12, 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63 Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1012.html#article)

On October 12, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Senator John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and the Civil War. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1012.html)

1492
Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas. (This event occurred on October 12th on the Old Style calendar, which is Oct. 21st New Style.)

1942
During World War II, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

1960
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe during a dispute.

1971
"Jesus Christ Superstar," the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, opened on Broadway.

1973
President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.

1986
Superpower talks in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended in stalemate, with President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev unable to agree on arms control or a date for a full-fledged summit in the United States.

1997
Singer John Denver, 53, died in the crash of his privately built aircraft in Monterey Bay, Calif.

1998
Matthew Shepard, a gay student at University of Wyoming, died five days after he was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie.

1999
Pakistan's military overthrew the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

2000
Two suicide bombers in an explosives-laden boat rammed into the destroyer the USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 sailors.

2002
A bomb destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists. Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida were blamed.

2007
Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm over global warming.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 13, 1943, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1013.html#article)

On October 13, 1894, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about David B. Hill's campaign for governor as a stepping-stone to the White House. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1013.html)

1775
The Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.

1792
The cornerstone of the White House was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

1843
The Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was founded in New York City.

1845
Texas ratified a state constitution.

1903
The Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win the first World Series five games to three.

1960
Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in the third televised debate of the presidential campaign, with Nixon in Hollywood, Calif., and Kennedy in New York.

1960
The World Series ended with a home run for the first time as Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a round-tripper in the ninth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees.

1962
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee opened on Broadway.

1974
TV host Ed Sullivan died at age 72.

1981
Egyptians voted in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

1998
The National Basketball Association canceled the first two weeks of its regular season because of a lockout.

1999
The JonBenet Ramsey grand jury was dismissed after 13 months; prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone in the 6-year-old's strangulation.

2000
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

2005
British playwright Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize in literature.

2006
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty in an influence-peddling investigation of Congress.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 19, 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value - its second biggest percentage drop.Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1019.html#article) :hmm:

On October 19, 1901, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the New York City mayoral election of 1901. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1019.html)

1765
The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.

1781
British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.

1812
French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began a retreat from Moscow.

1944
The Navy announced that black women would be allowed into the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)
.
1950
United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

1951
President Harry S. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.

1960
The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba.

1969
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."

2001
Two Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan in the first combat-related American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.

2002
A 37-year-old man was seriously wounded outside a steakhouse in Ashland, Va., in the latest attack by the Washington-area sniper.

2003
Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter's Square.

2004
Insurgents in Iraq abducted Margaret Hassan, the local director of CARE International, from her car in Baghdad. (Hassan was later slain by her captors.)

2005
A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture at his trial in Baghdad.

2006
The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 12,000 for the first time, ending at 12,011.73.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 20, 1973, in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, President Nixon abolished the office of special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, accepted the resignation of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and fired Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus. Read Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1020.html#article)

On October 20, 1888, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Andrew Carnegie and business consolidation. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1020.html)

1803
The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

1931
Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Okla.

1944
Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he'd said, "I shall return."

1947
The House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the motion picture industry.

1964
Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, died at age 90 in New York City.

1967
Seven of 18 defendants were convicted in Mississippi of violating the civil rights of three young men who were murdered while trying to help blacks register to vote in 1964.

1968
Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

1977
Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.

1992
In the first World Series game to be played outside the United States, the host Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2.

2000
Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen who'd served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

2004
A U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan "Chip" Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (He was sentenced to eight years in prison.)

[Kestra]

On Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations charter took effect.. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1024.html#article)

On October 24, 1857, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the economic panic of 1857 Read Cartton (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1024.html)

1648
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War and, effectively, the Holy Roman Empire.

1861
The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln.

1931
The GeorgeWashingtonBridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, was dedicated. (It opened to traffic the next day.)

1940
The 40-hour work week went into effect in the United States.

1952
Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared, "I shall go to Korea" as he promised to end the conflict.

1962
The U.S. blockade of Cuba during the missile crisis began under a proclamation signed by President John F. Kennedy.

1987
Thirty years after it was expelled for refusing to answer allegations of corruption, the Teamsters union was welcomed back into the AFL-CIO.

1992
The Toronto Blue Jays became the first team outside the United States to win a World Series as they defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in Game 6.

1999
Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., died at age 77.

2001
The House passed a $100 billion economic stimulus package in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

2002
Authorities arrested Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks. (Muhammad was later sentenced to death, Malvo to life in prison.)

2003
The era of supersonic jet travel came to an end as three British Airways Concordes landed at London's HeathrowAirport.

2005
Civil rights activist Rosa Parks died at age 92.

2007
Rapidly rising Internet star Facebook Inc. sold a 1.6 percent stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million, spurning a competing offer from online search leader Google Inc.

[Kestra]

On Oct. 27, 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, opened in New York City. Go To Artcile (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1027.html#article)

On October 27, 1877, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about General George B. McClellan's candidacy for governor of New Jersey. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1027.html)

1787
The first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the U.S. Constitution, was published in a New York newspaper.

1858
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was born in New York City.

1880
Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Lee.

1914
Author-poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales.

1947
"You Bet Your Life," starring Groucho Marx, premiered on ABC Radio.

1967
Expo '67 closed in Montreal.

1978
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1997
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 554.26 points, forcing the stock market to shut down for the first time since the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

2002
Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith broke the NFL career rushing yardage record of 16,726 held by Walter Payton. (Smith finished his career with 18,355 yards rushing.)

2002
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil in a runoff, becoming the country's first elected leftist leader.

2004
The Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Game 4.

2005
White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court after three weeks of criticism from fellow conservatives.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, in a test at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1101.html#article)

On November 1, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Great Britain's neutrality during the American Civil War. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1101.html)

1512
Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public.


1604
William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" was first performed, at WhitehallPalace in London.


1765
The Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.


1861
Gen. George B. McClellan was made general-in-chief of the Union armies.


1936
Benito Mussolini described the alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Rome and Berlin.


1946
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was ordained as a priest in Poland.


1950
Two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. One of the assailants was killed.


1954
The west African nation of Algeria began a rebellion against French rule.


1979
Former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., at age 82.


1991
Clarence Thomas took his place as a justice on the Supreme Court. i don't deserve to be where i am today, cuz i got here with help from Afirmitive Action and not my abilities. :cry2:


1995
Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio.


1999
Football Hall of Famer Walter Payton died of cancer at age 45.


2007
Retired Air Force Brigadier Gen. Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, died at age 92

[Kestra]

On Nov. 2, 1976, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter defeated Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford, becoming the first U.S. president from the Deep South since the Civil War. Read Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1102.html#article)

On November 2, 1878, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a Congressional investigation of vote fraud in the Electoral College Controversy of 1876-1877. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1102.html) an interesting read, and quite timely.

1783
Gen. George Washington issued his farewell address to the Army near Princeton, N.J.

1795
James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.

1865
Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, was born near Corsica, Ohio.


1889
North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.


1917
British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed support for a national home for the Jews of Palestine in what became known as the Balfour Declaration. several years before Hal Lindsey's book.


1947
Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long BeachHarbor in California.


1948
President Harry S. Truman narrowly won re-election over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.


1959
Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he had the questions and answers in advance of his appearances on the TV game show "Twenty-One."


1963
South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup.


1983
President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.


2004
President George W. Bush was elected to a second term as Republicans strengthened their grip on Congress.


2006
The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a man said they had had sexual trysts together.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 3, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected in a landslide over Republican Alfred M. ''Alf'' Landon. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1103.html#article)

On November 3, 1866, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Andrew Johnson controversial "swing around the circle" campaign tour. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1103.html)

1839
The first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.


1868
Republican Ulysses S. Grant won the presidential election over Democrat Horatio Seymour.


1896
Republican William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency.


1903
Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.


1908
Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling William Jennings Bryan.


1957
The Soviet Union launched into orbit Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite; a dog on board named Laika was sacrificed in the experiment.
:cry2:

1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson soundly defeated Republican challenger Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.


1970
Salvador Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile.


1986
A Lebanese magazine broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran, a revelation that escalated into the Iran-Contra affair.
:hmm:

1992
Democrat Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President George H.W. Bush.


1992
Illinois Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.


1994
Susan Smith of Union, S.C., was arrested for drowning her two young sons, nine days after claiming the children had been abducted by a black man. (Smith is serving life in prison.)


1998
Former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota.


1999
Aaron McKinney was convicted of murder in the beating of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard. (McKinney and Russell Henderson are each serving life in prison for the 1998 slaying.)


2004
Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election.


2005
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pleaded not guilty to a five-count felony indictment in the CIA leak case. (Libby was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison; President George W. Bush commuted his sentence.)


2006
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who had pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation, resigned from Congress.


2007
Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 7, 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1107.html#article)

On November 7, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about criticisms of President Grant, an image which includes the first important use of the Republican Elephant. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1107.html)

1874
The Republican Party was symbolized as an elephant for the first time, in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly magazine.


1893
Passage of a referendum made Colorado the first state to grant women the right to vote .


1916
Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.


1929
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened.

1944
President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.


1956
Eugene O'Neill's play "Long Day's Journey Into Night" opened on Broadway.


1962
Richard M. Nixon, who failed in a bid to become governor of California, held what he called his last press conference, telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
well, at least not for 10 years.

1962
Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt died at age 78.

1967
Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African-American mayor of a major American city.


1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.


1972
President Richard M. Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.


1973
Congress over-rode President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a president's power to wage war without congressional approval.
:hmm: deja vu

1989
L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the nation's first elected African-American governor.


1989
David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first African-American mayor.


1991
Basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the AIDS virus and was retiring.


1998
House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned following an election in which the Republican House majority shrunk from 22 to 12.


2000
Repblican George W. Bush was elected president over incumbent Democratic Vice President Al Gore, though Gore won the popular vote by a narrow margin. The winner was not known for more than a month because of a dispute over the results in Florida.
actually, he didn’t win, he was appointed by Supreme Court Justice Thomas.

2000
Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York, becoming the first first lady to win public office.


2006
Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, became the first Muslim elected to Congress.

[Kestra]

On November 8, 1960, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1108.html#article)

On November 8, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the National Liberal League, an organization which defended civil liberties and promoted the complete separation of church and state. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1108.html) and then came the giggles admin.

1889
Montana became the 41st state.


1892
Former President Grover Cleveland beat incumbent Benjamin Harrison, becoming the only president to win non-consecutive terms in the White House.


1923
Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt to seize power with a failed coup in Munich, Germany, that came to be known as the Beer-Hall Putsch.


1932
New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover for the presidency.


1966
Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California.


1966
Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts became the first African-American to be elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote.


1971
The album "Led Zeppelin IV," which included the song "Stairway to Heaven," was released.


1987
A bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded as crowds gathered in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, for a ceremony honoring Britain's war dead, killing 11 people.


1988
Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidential election, defeating Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.


1994
Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years and won a majority in the Senate in midterm elections. and then they proceeded to impeach Clinton, and later becoming a rubber-stamp for everything Bush and obstructionist to the Democratic party. hence putting US in the sad state that it is in today.

1997
Chinese engineers diverted the Yangtze River to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.


2000
A statewide recount of presidential election ballots began in Florida. Vice President Al Gore telephoned Texas Gov. George W. Bush to concede the election, but called back about an hour later to retract his concession.


2000
Waco special counsel John C. Danforth released a report absolving the government of wrongdoing in the 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Texas.


2004
Thousands of U.S. troops attacked strongholds of Sunni insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq.


2006
President George W. Bush announced Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation as defense secretary.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 9, 1965, the great Northeast blackout occurred as several states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1109.html#article)

On November 9, 1901, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the automobile. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1109.html)

1918
Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II announced that he would abdicate.


1935
United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization.


1938
Nazis looted and burned synagogues and Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria on Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass."


1953
The Supreme Court upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the scope of federal antitrust laws.


1953
Author-poet Dylan Thomas died at age 39.


1970
Former French president Charles De Gaulle died at age 79.


1976
The United Nations General Assembly approved 10 resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as "illegitimate."


1989
Communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West. Joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.


2001
The northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif fell to the northern alliance in the first major territorial advance for the rebels against the ruling Taliban.


2003
Comic actor Art Carney died at age 85.


2004
Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young award.


2005
Three suicide bombers carried out nearly simultaneous attacks on three U.S.-based hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing 60 victims and wounding hundreds.


2006
CBS newsman Ed Bradley died in New York at age 65.


2007
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest for a day, and rounded up thousands of her supporters to block a mass rally against his emergency rule.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 10, 1982, the newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C. Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1110.html#article)

Weekly featured a cartoon about a school segregation order that sparked a diplomatic crisis between Japan and the United States. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1110.html)

1483
Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, was born in Eisleben, Germany.


1775
The U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress.


1871
Journalist-explorer Henry M. Stanley found missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone in central Africa and delivered his famous greeting: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"


1919
The American Legion held its first national convention, in Minneapolis.


1928
Hirohito was enthroned as Emperor of Japan.


1938
Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on network radio.


1942
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, discussing the recent victory over Rommel at El Alamein, Egypt, said "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."


1951
Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, N.J., called his counterpart in Alameda, Calif.

1954
The Iwo Jima Memorial was dedicated in Arlington, Va.

1969
"Sesame Street" debuted on PBS.


1975
The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism.


1975
The ore-hauling ship Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm in Lake Superior. All 29 crew members died.


1982
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died at age 75.


1997
A judge in Cambridge, Mass., reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to manslaughter and sentenced the English au pair to the 279 days she'd already served in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.


1997
WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. agreed to a $37 billion merger.


2001
The World Trade Organization approved China's membership.


2001
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" author Ken Kesey died at age 66.

2004
President George W. Bush nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to be attorney general, succeeding John Ashcroft.


2007
Six U.S. troops died in an insurgent ambush, making 2007 the deadliest year for American forces in Afghanistan since 2001.


2007
Author Norman Mailer died at age 84.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 16, 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations. President Roosevelt sent a telegram to Soviet leader Maxim Litvinov, expressing hope that United States-Soviet relations would ``forever remain normal and friendly.'' Go To Article (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1116.html#article)

On November 16, 1907, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt and the elections of 1907. Read Cartoon (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1116.html)

1864
Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the Civil War.


1907
Oklahoma became the 46th state.


1959
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway.


1961
House Speaker Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, died at age 79.


1966
Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial on charges of murdering his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.


1973
Skylab 3, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 84-day mission.


1973
President Richard M. Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.


1982
An agreement was announced in the 57th day of a strike by National Football League players.


1988
Estonia's parliament declared the Baltic republic sovereign.


1995
Attorney General Janet Reno disclosed that she had Parkinson's disease.

1997
Chinese pro-democracy campaigner Wei Jingsheng arrived in the United States after being released on medical parole after nearly 18 years in prison.


2001
Congress passed an aviation security bill mandating that airport screeners be federal employees.


2001
Investigators found a letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., containing anthrax.


2004
President George W. Bush picked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to be secretary of state, succeeding Colin Powell.


2006
African, Arab, European and U.N. leaders agreed in principle to a joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.


2006
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman died at age 94.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 17, 1973, President Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, Fla., that ``people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.'' (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1117.html#article))

On November 17, 1860, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about local militia on training day.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1117.html)

1558
Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary.


1800
Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C., in the partially completed Capitol building.


1869
The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.


1917
French sculptor Auguste Rodin died at age 77.


1934
Lyndon B. Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as "Lady Bird."


1962
DullesInternationalAirport in Washington, D.C., was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy.


1968
NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a game to air a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule. Viewers were deprived of seeing the Oakland Raiders come from behind to beat the New York Jets 43-32.


1970
The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon.


1997
Six militants opened fire at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, killing 62 people, most of them foreign tourists. The attackers were killed by police.


1998
Israel's parliament overwhelmingly approved the WyeRiver land-for-peace accord with the Palestinians.


2000
The Florida Supreme Court froze the state's presidential tally, forbidding Secretary of State Katherine Harris to certify results of the marathon vote count in the race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. well it had too, otherwise it would be obvious that Gore won. and then Supreme court justice Uncle Tom annointed giggles president.


2001
The Taliban confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden's military chief Mohammed Atef in an airstrike three days earlier.


2003
John Allen Muhammad was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the Washington-area sniper shootings. (He was later sentenced to death.)


2003
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as governor of California.


2005
A jury in Sarasota, Fla., convicted mechanic Joseph Smith of kidnapping, raping and strangling 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose abduction had been captured by a car-wash security camera. (Smith was later sentenced to death.)


2006
Hall of Fame college football coach Bo Schembechler died at age 77.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 18, 1976,Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1118.html#article))

On November 18, 1899, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Open Door policy towards China.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1118.html)

1883
The United States and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.


1886
Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, died in New York at age 56.


1899
Conductor Eugene Ormandy was born in Budapest, Hungary.


1923
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American in space, was born in East Derry, N.H.


1928
The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon, Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" starring Mickey Mouse, premiered in New York.


1936
Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.


1966
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.


1969
Financier and diplomat Joseph P. Kennedy died in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 81.


1969
Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean landed on the lunar sufrace during the second manned mission to the moon.


1978
More than 900 people died in Jonestown, Guyana, after PeoplesTemple cult leader Jim Jones urged them to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced grape punch. Jones died of a bullet wound to the head; whether it was self-inflicted is unknown.


1987
The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.


1988
President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a Cabinet-level drug czar and providing the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.


1991
Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and educator Thomas Sutherland.


1999
A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted Shawn Allen Berry of murder for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., but spared him the death penalty.


2002
U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq after a four-year hiatus, calling on Saddam Hussein's government to cooperate with their search for weapons of mass destruction.
:hmm: and here giggles claimed Saddam, ‘kicked them out’ of Iraq. and refused to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors. it would appear he lied to US about it as well as WMD.

2003
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.


2004
Bill Clinton's presidential library opened in Little Rock, Ark.
2004
Britain outlawed fox hunting in England and Wales.


2006
Actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes were married in Italy.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. At right is a the only known photograph of Lincoln (circled) at Gettysburg. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1119.html#article))

On November 19, 1859, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about John Brown's raid at the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1119.html)

1794
The United States and Britain signed the Jay Treaty, which resolved some issues left over from the Revolutionary War.

1831
James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, was born in Orange, Ohio.

1917
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was born in Allahabad.

1919
The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.


1942
Russian forces launched a winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front during World War II.


1959
Ford Motor Co. announced it was halting production of the unpopular Edsel.


1969
Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad and Alan Bean made man's second landing on the moon.

1977
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel.


1985
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began a summit in Geneva.


1990
The pop duo Milli Vanilli was stripped of its Grammy Award after it was revealed that neither performer sang on the group's records.

1998
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr laid out his evidence against President Bill Clinton during a daylong appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.


2001
President George W. Bush signed legislation to put airport baggage screeners on the federal payroll.


2001
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants became the first baseball player to win four Most Valuable Player awards.


2004
Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers charged into the stands and fought with fans during an NBA game in Detroit. (Artest was suspended for the rest of the season and Jackson for 30 games. A fan was sentenced to 30 days in jail for assaulting Artest.)


2006
British authorities said they were investigating the apparent poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who had been critical of the Russian government. (Litvinenko died in London four days later of polonium poisoning.)

[Kestra]

On Nov. 20, 1945, 24 Nazi leaders went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1120.html#article))

On November 20, 1909, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidency of William Howard Taft. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1120.html)

1620
Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower in Massachusetts Bay - the first child born of English parents in present-day New England.

1789
New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1889
Astronomer Edwin Hubble was born in Marshfield, Mo.

1910
Revolution broke out in Mexico.

1925
Robert F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass.

1947
Britain's future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey in London.

1966
The musical "Cabaret," with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, opened on Broadway.

1969
The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase-out.

1975
Spain's Gen. Francisco Franco died after nearly four decades of absolute rule.

1977
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.

1995
Princess Diana admitted during an interview broadcast on BBC TV that she had been unfaithful to Prince Charles.

1996
House Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be speaker for a second term.

2000
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori resigned, ending a 10-year reign.

2001
Federal health officials approved sale of the world's first contraceptive patch, Ortho-Evra.

2003
Singer Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation in Santa Barbara, Calif. (He was later acquited.)

2006
Director Robert Altman died at age 81.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 21, 1964 New York's Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1121.html#article))

On November 21, 1903, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1121.html)

1789
North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1877
Inventor Thomas A. Edison unveiled the phonograph.

1922
Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

1969
The Senate voted down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement F. Haynsworth.

1973
President Richard Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

1980
A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas killed 87 people.

1985
Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested, accused of spying for Israel. (He later pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.)

1989
The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

1991
The U.N. Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be secretary-general.

1995
The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 5,000 for the first time.

2000
The Florida Supreme Court granted Democrat Al Gore's request to keep the presidential election recount going.

2001
Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old resident of Oxford, Conn., died of inhalation anthrax. The source of the anthrax has never been determined.

2002
NATO sought to expand its membership into the borders of the former Soviet Union as it invited seven former communist countries to join the alliance: Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.

2004
Donald Trump's casino empire filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

2004
The NBA suspended Indiana's Ron Artest for the rest of the season following a brawl in the stands during a game against the Detroit Pistons.

2005
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke away from the hardline Likud with the intention of forming a new party.

2007
Officials announced the recall of more than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html#article))

On November 22, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Thanksgiving Day. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1122.html)

1718
English pirate Edward Teach - better known as "Blackbeard" - was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast.

1890
Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.

1906
The SOS distress signal was adopted at the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin.

1928
"Bolero" by Maurice Ravel debuted in Paris.

1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.

1943
Lyricist Lorenz Hart died at age 48.

1967
The U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which called for Israel to withdraw from territories it captured in 1967, and implicitly called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.

1968
The Beatles' "White Album" was released.

1975
Juan Carlos was proclaimed king of Spain.

1977
Regular passenger service between New York and Europe on the supersonic Concorde began on a trial basis.

1980
Actress Mae West died at age 87.

1990
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win re-election to the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced her resignation.

1998
The CBS News program "60 Minutes" aired videotape of Dr. Jack Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a terminally ill patient.

2004
Tens of thousands of demonstrators jammed downtown Kiev, denouncing Ukraine's presidential runoff election as fraudulent and chanting the name of their reformist candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.

2005
Jose Padilla, an American once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb," was charged with supporting terrorism. (He was later convicted and sentenced to 17 years, four months in prison.)

2005
Angela Merkel took power as Germany's first female chancellor.

2005
Ted Koppel hosted his final edition of ABC News' "Nightline."

[Kestra]

On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1124.html#article))

On November 24, 1883, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the new BrooklynBridge. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1124.html)


1784
Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Va.

1859
British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," which explained his theory of evolution.


1871
The National Rifle Association was incorporated.


1925
Conservative author and editor William F. Buckley Jr. was born in New York.

1947
A group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the "Hollywood 10" was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.


1950
The musical "Guys and Dolls," based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.


1969
Apollo 12 returned to Earth after the second manned mission to the moon.


1971
Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom. His fate remains unknown.


1985
The hijacking of an Egyptair jetliner parked on the ground in Malta ended with 60 deaths when Egyptian commandos stormed the plane; two of the dead were shot by the hijackers.


1987
The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles in the first superpower treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons.


1989
Czechoslovakia's hard-line party leadership resigned after more than a week of protests against its policies.


1991
Rock singer Freddie Mercury of Queen died at age 45 of pneumonia brought on by AIDS.


1992
Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger pleaded innocent to making a false statement in the Iran-Contra affair.


1998
America Online confirmed it was buying Netscape Communications in a deal ultimately worth $10 billion.


2000
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider George W. Bush's appeal against the hand recounting of presidential ballots in Florida.


2003
A jury in Virginia Beach, Va., sentenced John Allen Muhammad to death for the Washington-area sniper shootings.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 27, 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1127.html#article))

On November 27, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the doctrine of papal infallibility.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1127.html)

1901
The ArmyWarCollege was established in Washington, D.C.

1910
New York's Pennsylvania Station opened.


1942
The French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.


1953
Playwright Eugene O'Neill died at age 65.

1970
Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.


1978
San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot to death inside City Hall by Dan White, a former supervisor.


1985
The British House of Commons approved the Anglo-Irish accord, giving Dublin a consultative role in the governing of British-ruled Northern Ireland.


2002
U.N. specialists began a new round of weapons inspections in Iraq.
and surprise, surprise, they didn’t find any WMD.

2003
President George W. Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 28, 1943, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran during World War II.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1128.html#article))

On November 28, 1857, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a dispute between the federal government and Utah Mormons called the "Mormon War" or "Utah War." (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1128.html)

1520
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name.

1895
The first automobile race took place, between Chicago and Waukegan, Ill.

1925
The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville made its radio debut on station WSM.


1939
James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, died at age 78.


1942
Fire destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, killing nearly 500 people.


1958
The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community.


1975
President Gerald R. Ford nominated federal Judge John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court seat vacated by William O. Douglas.


1990
Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain. She was succeded by John Major.


1994
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate.


1995
President Bill Clinton signed a bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit.


1999
Hsing-Hsing, a giant panda who arrived at the National Zoo in 1972 as a symbol of U.S.-China detente, was euthanized at age 28 because of deteriorating health.


2000
George W. Bush's lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to bring "legal finality" to the presidential election by ending any further ballot recounts; Al Gore's team countered that the nation's highest court should not interfere in Florida's recount dispute.
and interfere it did by appointing Bush as president.


2001
Enron Corp., once the world's largest energy trader, collapsed after would-be rescuer Dynegy Inc. backed out of an $8.4 billion deal to take it over.


2007
O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty in Las Vegas to charges of kidnapping and armed robbery stemming from a confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers. (Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted last month.)

[Kestra]

On Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1129.html#article))

On November 29, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about former president James Buchanan's defense of his presidential policies on the eve of the Civil War.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1129.html)

1890
The first Army-Navy football game was played, with Navy winning 24-0 at West Point, N.Y.

1924
Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels.


1929
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd radioed that he'd made the first airplane flight over the South Pole.


1952
President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower kept his campaign promise to visit Korea to assess the ongoing conflict.


1961
Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited Earth twice before returning.


1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson named a commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.


1967
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.


1981
Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident at age 43.


1986
Actor Cary Grant died at age 82.


1989
In response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.


1990
The U.N. Security Council voted 12-2 to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.


1996
A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims - the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.


1999
Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government.


2001
Rock musician George Harrison of the Beatles died at age 58 following a battle with cancer.

[Boby]

1016 - English King Edmund II died.

1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day.

1782 - The U.S. and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France.

1804 - U.S.Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

1835 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain.

1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France.

1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope.

1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine.

1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition.

1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851.

1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland.

1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married.

1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking.

1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds.

1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape.

1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.

1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent.

1967 - Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower announced their engagement.

1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers.

1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.

1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi.

1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero."

1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

1989 - Alfred Herrhausen was killed in a bombing. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of killing Herrhausen the chairman of West Germany's largest bank.

1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the U.S. in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City.

1993 - U.S.President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.

1993 - Richard Allen Davis was arrested by authorities in California Davis confessed to abducting and slaying 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.

1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.

1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution.

2000 - David Spade was assaulted with a stun gun by his longtime personal assistant, David Warren Malloy. Malloy attacked Spade during a burglary of Spade's home in Beverly Hills.

2001 - For the first time in its history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from its Animal Alley.

2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway was arrested for four of the Green River serial killings. He was pled innocent on December 18, 2001.

2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.

[Kestra]

On Nov. 30, 1995, President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1130.html#article))

On November 30, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Great Boston Fire of 1872. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1130.html)

1782
The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1804
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial, accused of political bias. He was acquitted by the Senate.


1835
Author Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Mo.
1874
British statesman Winston Churchill was born at BlenheimPalace in Oxfordshire.


1900
Author Oscar Wilde died at age 46.


1962
U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.


1966
The former British colony of Barbados became independent.


1979
The album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd was released.


1981
The United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.


1993
President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady bill, which requires a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.


1993
Authorities in California arrested Richard Allen Davis, who confessed to abducting and killing 12 year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.


1999
The opening of a 135-nation trade gathering in Seattle was disrupted by at least 40,000 demonstrators, some of whom clashed with police.


2001
Robert Tools, the first person to receive a fully self-contained artificial heart, died in Louisville, Ky., after living with the device for 151 days.


2007
A man took hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H.; Leeland Eisenberg surrendered about five hours later.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 1, 1959, representatives of 12 countries, including the United States, signed a treaty in Washington setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1201.html#article))

On December 1, 1883, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about New York City Mayor Franklin Edson and Tammany Hall. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1201.html)

1824
The House of Representatives convened to decide the presidential election because no candidate had received a majority in the Electoral College. John Quincy Adams was eventually chosen the winner over Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay.


1913
The first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh.

1919
Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.


1934
Sergei M. Kirov, the head of the Communist Party in Leningrad, was assassinated as Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a massive purge that would claim tens of millions of lives.


1942
Nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States.


1955
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, defied the law by refusing to give up her seat to a white man aboard a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.


1963
The Beatles' first single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," was released in the United States.


1965
An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.


1969
The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.


1973
David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, died at age 87.


1991
Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.


1992
Amy Fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of the teenager's lover, Joey Buttafuoco, on New York's Long Island.


1997
A 14-year-old student opened fire on a morning prayer group at a high school in West Paducah, Ky., killing three students and wounding five.


2000
Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.


2004
Tom Brokaw signed off for the last time as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News."

yes, he was forced to resign for reporting on the truth about :king: giggles being awol.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 6, 1923, a presidential address was broadcast on radio for the first time as President Calvin Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1206.html#article))

On December 6, 1879,Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the White River massacre in Colorado(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1206.html)

1790
Congress moved from New York City to Philadelphia.


1884
Army engineers completed construction of the WashingtonMonument.


1889
Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans at age 81.


1907
The worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va.

1947
EvergladesNational Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.


1957
AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.


1957
America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1969
A free concert by the Rolling Stones at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif., was marred by the deaths of four people, including a man who was stabbed by a Hell's Angel.


1973
House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who had resigned after pleading no contest to income tax evasion.


1982
A bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army exploded in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing 11 soldiers and six civilians.


1989
Fourteen women were shot to death at the University of Montreal's school of engineering by a man who then took his own life.


1992
Thousands of Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque in India, setting off two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting that claimed at least 2,000 lives.


1994
Orange County, Calif., filed for bankruptcy protection due to investment losses of about $2 billion.


1998
Hugo Chavez, who had staged a bloody coup attempt against the Venezuelan government six years earlier, was elected president.


1999
SabreTech, an aircraft maintenance company, was convicted of mishandling oxygen canisters blamed for a cargo hold fire that caused the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Everglades that killed 110 people.


2003
Army became the first team to finish 0-13 in major college football history after a 34-6 loss to Navy.


2004
Al-Qaida struck the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, with explosives and machine guns, killing nine people.


2006
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded that President George W. Bush's war policies had failed in almost every regard, and said the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating." :hmm: with his history of driving everything he touches into the ground, no surprises there.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. More than 2,300 Americans were killed.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1207.html#article))

On December 7, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Ulysses S. Grant and civil service reform.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1207.html)

1787
Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.


1796
Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States.

1836
Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.

1842
The New York Philharmonic gave its first concert.


1963
Videotaped instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast during the Army-Navy football game on CBS.

1972
America's last moon mission was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.

1982
Convicted murderer Charlie Brooks became the first U.S. prisoner to be executed by injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas.


1985
Retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died at age 70.


1988
An earthquake in northern Armenia claimed an estimated 25,000 lives.


1993
A gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six people and wounding 17. Colin Ferguson was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.


1995
A 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter's atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was destroyed.


2001
Taliban forces abandoned their last bastion in Afghanistan, fleeing the southern city of Kandahar.


2002
Iraq denied it had weapons of mass destruction in a declaration to the United Nations.
which it did not. this however, did not stop giggle admin from invading bombing, and occupying iraq.
2004
Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president
.
2007
Baseball home run king Barry Bonds pleaded not guilty in San Francisco to charges he'd lied to federal investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1208.html#article))

On December 8, 1883, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the centennial celebration of Evacuation Day, which marked the departure of British troops from New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1208.html)

1776
George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.


1854
Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception.

1863
President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South.


1886
The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.


1949
The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan as the Communists pressed their attacks.


1978
Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir died at age 80.


1986
House Democrats selected Jim Wright to be the chamber's 48th speaker, succeeding Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill.

1987
Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began an intefadeh, or uprising.


1987
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1991
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forging a new alliance, the Commonwealth of Independent States.


1991
Kimberly Bergalis, who had contracted AIDS from her dentist, died in Florida at age 23.


1992
Americans saw live TV coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia as Operation Restore Hope began.


1993
President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.


1995
The Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up after 30 years of making music. The news came four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.


2003
Rep. Bill Janklow, R-S.D., resigned after being convicted in the traffic death of a motorcyclist.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 9, 1992, Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1209.html#article))

On December 9, 1876, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the possibility of violence following the contested presidential election of 1876.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1209.html)

1608
Poet John Milton was born in London.


1854
The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was published in England.


1907
Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office. The proceeds went to fight tuberculosis.


1940
British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II.


1941
China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1958
The anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis.


1975
President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.


1990
Solidarity founder Lech Walesa won Poland's presidential runoff by a landslide.


1993
The Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.
and then came :king: giggles. now the arms race is on again because other countries are afraid of being attacked for no reason by current admin.

1994
President Bill Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after she told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality.


1995
Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., was chosen to head the NAACP.


2000
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida presidential vote count.


2002
United Airlines filed the biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years.


2004
Canada's Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was constitutional.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 14, 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1214.html#article))

On December 14, 1901, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the children of President Theodore Roosevelt. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1214.html)

1799
George Washington, the first president of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67.

1819
Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state.


1861
Prince Albert, husband of Britain's Queen Victoria, died in London.


1911
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole.


1946
The United Nations General Assembly voted to establish the U.N. headquarters in New York City.


1979
The album "London Calling" by the Clash was released.


1985
Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.


1989
Nobel Peace laureate Andrei D. Sakharov died in Moscow at age 68.


1993
A Colorado judge struck down as unconstitutional the state's voter-approved ban on gay rights laws.


1997
Cuban President Fidel Castro declared Christmas 1997 an official holiday to ensure the success of Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit to the communist country.


1998
President Bill Clinton stood witness as hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel.


1999
U.S. and German negotiators agreed to establish a $5.2 billion fund for Nazi-era slaves and forced laborers.


1999
Charles M. Schulz announced he was retiring the "Peanuts" comic strip.


2000
The Federal Trade Commission unanimously approved the $111 billion merger of America Online and Time Warner.


2006
South Korea's Ban Ki-moon was sworn in as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 15, 1916, the French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1215.html#article))

On December 15, 1888, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about speculation concerning the cabinet appointments of President-elect Benjamin Harrison. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1215.html)

1791
The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, took effect following ratification by Virginia.


1890
Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a clash with Indian police.


1938
Ground was broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1939
The movie "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.


1944
Bandleader Glenn Miller was killed when his U.S. Army plane disappeared over the English Channel.


1961
Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

1965
Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.


1966
Movie producer Walt Disney died at age 65.


1978
President Jimmy Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.


1989
A popular uprising began in Romania; it led to the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.


2003
The late Sen. Strom Thurmond's family acknowledged Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim that she was Thurmond's illegitimate mixed-race daughter.


2004
American telecommunications giants Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. announced they would merge in a $35 billion deal.


2005
Millions of Iraqis turned out to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election.


2005
Former Sen. William Proxmire, the Wisconsin Democrat who had fought government waste with his "Golden Fleece" awards, died at age 90.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1217.html#article))

On December 17, 1898, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the annexation of Hawaii by the United States. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1217.html)

1777
France recognized America's independence.


1830
South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar died in Colombia.


1933
In the first NFL championship game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field.


1944
The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.


1957
The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.


1969
The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.
:greetings:


1969
An estimated 50 million viewers watched singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky on NBC's "Tonight Show."
i saw that.

1975
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford.

1986
Eugene Hasenfus, an American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the Contras, was pardoned and released.


1992
President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies.

1996
Peruvian guerrillas took hundreds of people hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima.


1996
Kofi Annan of Ghana became United Nations secretary-general.


2002
Congo's government, rebels and opposition parties signed a peace agreement to end four years of civil war.


2004
President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence-gathering in 50 years.


2005
President George W. Bush acknowledged he'd personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11, calling it "crucial to our national security."
yeah, gotta keep an eye on those Quakers.

2007
Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed a measure making New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty in more than 40 years.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 18, 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went online.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1218.html#article))

On December 18, 1909, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about airplane travel. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1218.html)

1737
Violin maker Antonio Stradivari died in Cremona, Italy.

1787
New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.


1865
Slavery ended in the United States as the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect.


1886
Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Ga.

1892
Peter Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.

1915
President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt.


1944
The Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans.


1956
Japan was admitted to the United Nations.


1958
The world's first communications satellite, SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.


1969
Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.

1972
The United States began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.


1987
Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal.


1997
Comedian and "Saturday Night Live" alum Chris Farley was found dead at age 33 of an accidental overdose of morphine and cocaine.


1998
The House of Representatives began debate on four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. what a joke that was.


1999
Environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down after spending two years living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, Calif., to protest logging.


2003
A judge in Seattle sentenced confessed Green River killer Gary Ridgeway to 48 consecutive life terms.


2003
A jury in Chesapeake, Va., convicted teenager Lee Boyd Malvo of two counts of murder in the Washington-area sniper shootings. (He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.)


2006
Robert Gates was sworn in as defense secretary.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 19, 1984, Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1219.html#article))

On December 19, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a Union drummer boy during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1219.html)

1732
Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."


1776
Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay, writing: "These are the times that try men's souls."


1777
Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.


1843
Charles Dickens' Yuletide tale, "A Christmas Carol," was first published in England.


1907
A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa., killed 239 workers.


1946
War broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.


1972
Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.


1974
Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned.


1986
The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner.


1996
The school board of Oakland, Calif., voted to recognize Black English, also known as "ebonics."

1997
"Titanic," the highest-grossing movie of all-time, opened in American theaters.


1998
Two days after his confession of marital infidelity, Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., told the House he wouldn't serve as its next speaker.


1998
President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was later acquitted by the Senate.
let’s see, how many died because of that?... none.


2000
The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.
which they tried to do, but giggles would have none of it, he had a different agenda.


2002
After a prosecutor cited new DNA evidence, a judge in New York threw out the convictions of five young men in a 1989 attack on a Central Park jogger who had been raped and left for dead.


2003
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to halt his nation's drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons.


2005
Afghanistan's first democratically elected parliament in more than three decades convened.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 20, 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of General Manuel Noriega.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1220.html#article))

On December 20, 1902, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about cartoonist Thomas Nast, who had recently died. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1220.html)

1790
The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I.

1803
The Louisiana Purchase was completed as the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans.

1860
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.

1864
Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea."

1879
Thomas Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J.

1946
The Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its official premiere.

1963
The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

1968
Author John Steinbeck died at age 66.

1976
Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley died at age 74.

1994
Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk died at age 85.

1996
Astronomer Carl Sagan died at age 62.

1999
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples.

2002
Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader two weeks after igniting a political firestorm with racially charged remarks.

2005
New York City transit workers began a three-day strike.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 22, 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, saying, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1222.html#article))

On December 22, 1906, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Secretary of State Elihu Root. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1222.html)

1775
A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies.


1894
French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. He was eventually vindicated.


1912
Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, was born Claudio Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas.


1941
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.


1944
During the Battle of the Bulge, Germany demanded the surrender of American troops at Bastogne, Belgium; Brigadier Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied: "Nuts!"


1984
New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.


1989
Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last of Eastern Europe's hard-line Communist rulers, was toppled from power in a popular uprising.


1989
Playwright Samuel Beckett died in Paris at age 83.


1990
Lech Walesa took the oath of office as Poland's first popularly elected president.


2000
Pop singer Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie in Scotland. (The couple announced in October 2008 that they were divorcing.)


2001
Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers.


2002
Rock musician Joe Strummer of The Clash died at age 50.


2005
New York transit workers ended their three-day strike without a new contract.


2005
Astronomers announced the discovery of two more rings encircling the planet Uranus. :klingon:

[Kestra]

On Dec. 23, 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1223.html#article))

On December 23, 1871, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1223.html)

1783
George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Va.

1788
Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.


1823
The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore was first published, in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel.


1941
American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.


1948
Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.


1968
Eighty-two crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.


1972
The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second touchdown catch by Franco Harris that was dubbed the "immaculate reception."


1995
A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children's school.


1997
A jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.


2003
The government announced the first suspected case of mad cow disease in United States.


2003
A jury in Chesapeake, Va., sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty.


2003
New York Gov. George Pataki pardoned the late comedian Lenny Bruce for his 1964 obscenity conviction.


2004
Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland pleaded guilty to a corruption charge. (He was later sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.)

[Kestra]

On Dec. 24, 1992, President Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1224.html#article))

On December 24, 1859, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about congressional debates over slavery, William Henry Seward's famous "Irrepressible Conflict" speech, and the presidential election of 1860.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1224.html)

1524
Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama, who had found the sea route around Africa to India, died in India.


1814
The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.


1851
Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes.


1865
The Ku Klux Klan was founded as a private social club by several Confederate Army veterans in Pulaski, Tenn.

1871
Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.


1906
Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Mass.

1920
Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.


1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces during World War II.


1968
the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.
i watched this with my family.


1989
Ousted Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega, who had succeeded in eluding U.S. forces, took refuge at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.


1997
Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the aging revolutionary known as Carlos the Jackal, was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national.


2002
Laci Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto, Calif., home, by her husband, Scott, who was later convicted of murdering her and their unborn son.


2004
The international Cassini spacecraft launched a probe on a three-week free-fall toward Saturn's mysterious moon Titan.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 26, 1941, Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1226.html#article))

On December 26, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Reverdy Johnson, the U.S. minister to Great Britain. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1226.html)

1776
The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.


1799
George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."


1865
James H. Nason of Franklin, Mass., received a patent for a coffee percolator.


1893
Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong was born in Hunan province.


1908
Jack Johhnson became the first black heavyweight boxing champion when he knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.


1917
The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads.

1944
Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" premiered at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.


1947
Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast, burying New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours; the severe weather was blamed for some 80 deaths.


1972
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, died in Kansas City, Mo., at age 88.


1974
Comedian Jack Benny died at age 80.


1996
Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colo. The slaying remains unsolved.


2004
A tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean left more than 216,000 people dead or missing, mostly in southern Asia.


2004
Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts broke Dan Marino's single-season touchdown pass record when he threw his 48th and 49th of the season in a victory over San Diego.


2006
Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 93.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 27, 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1227.html#article))

On December 27, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Senator Thomas Bayard of Delaware, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1880.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1227.html)

1822
Scientist Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, France.

1831
British naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the nearly five-year journey helped form the basis of his theories on evolution.

1900
Prohibitionist Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the CareyHotel in Wichita, Kan.

1927
The landmark musical "Show Boat" - with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II - opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City.

1932
RadioCityMusic Hall opened in New York City.


1945
The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1947
The children's TV program "Howdy Doody" debuted on NBC.

1949
Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1968
Apollo 8, the first spaceflight to orbit the moon, returned to Earth.

1970
"Hello, Dolly!" closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844 performances.

1985
Naturalist Dian Fossey, who had studied gorillas in the wild, was found hacked to death at a research station in Rwanda.

2001
U.S. officials announced that Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners would be held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2002
North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.
good work giggles.

2005
Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally abolished their 30-year armed struggle for independence under a peace deal born out of the 2004 tsunami.

2007
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bomb and shooting attack as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 28, 1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1228.html#article))

On December 28, 1901, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of the New York World newspaper. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1228.html)

1694
Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

1832
John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Andrew Jackson.

1846
Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

1856
Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, was born in Staunton, Va.

1897
"Cyrano de Bergerac," a play by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.

1905
The forerunner of the NCAA, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, was founded in New York City.

1958
The Baltimore Colts won the NFL championship, defeating the New York Giants 23-17 in overtime at Yankee Stadium, in what has been dubbed the greatest football game ever played.

1937
Composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris.

1945
Congress officially recognized the "Pledge of Allegiance."
and there was no: “Under god” contained within.

1973
Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

1982
Nevell Johnson Jr., a black man, was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade, setting off three days of race-related disturbances that left another man dead.

2004
Activist, author and intellectual Susan Sontag died at age 71.

2004
Actor Jerry Orbach ("Law and Order") died at age 69.

2005
Former top Enron Corp. accountant Richard Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to help pursue convictions against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

2007
The New England Patriots became the first NFL team in 35 years to finish the regular season undefeated when they beat the New York Giants 38-35 to go 16-0.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 29, On Dec. 29, 1940, during World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1229.html#article))

On December 29, 1906, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt's appointment of Attorney General William Moody to the U.S. Supreme Court. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1229.html)

1170
Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in England.

1808
Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, was born in Raleigh, N.C.

1809
British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone was born in Liverpool.

1845
Texas was admitted to the union as the 28th state.

1851
The first American Young Men's Christian Association was organized, in Boston.

1890
U.S. troops killed as many as 400 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, S.D.

1934
Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

1975
A bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York's LaGuardiaAirport, killing 11 people.

1986
Former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan died at age 92.

1989
Playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country's Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to hold the post in more than four decades.

1996
War-weary guerrilla and government leaders in Guatemala signed an accord ending 36 years of civil conflict.

1998
Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 1 million lives.

1999
The Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 for the first time, ending the day at 4,041.46.

2007
The New England Patriots became the first NFL team in 35 years to finish the regular season undefeated when they beat the New York Giants 38-35 to go 16-0.

[Kestra]

On Dec. 30, 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1230.html#article))

On December 30, 1899, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Manila during the Philippine-American War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1230.html)

1813
The British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.


1865
Author Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India.

1903
About 600 people died when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago.


1911
Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.


1922
Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1928
Rock 'n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates in McComb, Miss.

1940
California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.

1947
King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.

1978
OhioStateUniversity fired Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched a ClemsonUniversity player during a game.

1988
President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George H.W. Bush were subpoenaed to testify as defense witnesses in the pending Iran-Contra trial of Oliver North. (The subpoenas were subsequently quashed.)
:hmm:


1993
Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another.

1997
Armed men massacred 412 men, women and children in four mountain villages in Algeria.

1999
Former Beatle George Harrison fought off a knife-wielding intruder who broke into his mansion west of London and stabbed him in the chest.

2003
The federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

2006
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hanged.

2007
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of an election that opponents and observers alleged was rigged; violence flared in Nairobi slums and coastal resort towns, killing scores in the following days.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0103.html#article)) :bday: 50th Alaska.

On January 3, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about women's rights. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0103.html)

1521
Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.


1777
Gen. George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.


1833
Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.


1868
The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.


1892
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.


1938
The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.


1947
Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.


1961
The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.


1967
Jack Ruby, the man who fatally shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.


1990
Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.


1997
Bryant Gumbel signed off for the last time as host of NBC's "Today" show.


2000
The last new daily "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers.


2004
NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the red planet.


2006
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress.


2008
Barack Obama won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa; Mike Huckabee won on the Republican side. :boogie:

[Kestra]

On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his ''Great Society'' in his State of the Union address.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0104.html#article))

On January 4, 1873, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Tweed Ring. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0104.html)


1896
Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state.


1948
Britain granted independence to Burma.


1951
North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul during the Korean War.


1960
Nobel Prize-winning French author Albert Camus died in a car accident at age 46.


1965
Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.


1974
President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.


1990
Charles Stuart, who had claimed a gunman had killed his pregnant wife and wounded him, leaped to his death from a BostonHarbor bridge after he became a suspect.


1990
Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned in federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.


1994
The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected speaker of the House.


1999
Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.


2004
Afghans approved a new constitution.


2004
Georgians overwhelmingly elected Mikhail Saakashvili president, two months after he'd led protests that forced Eduard Shevardnadze to step down.


2006
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 6, 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0106.html#article))

On January 6, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Tweed Ring. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0106.html)


1412
According to tradition, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy, France.


1540
England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.


1759
George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.


1838
Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.

1912
New Mexico became the 47th state.
:bday: Mexico


1941
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of "Four Freedoms" for the world: freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of people to worship God in their own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
and then came giggles. be afraid, be very afraid. :shock2: and worship only the far Reich christain god. ‘cuz he tol me so.’


1942
The Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.


1945
George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y.

1950
Britain recognized the Communist government of China.
i guess size really does matter.


1982
Truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of being the "freeway killer" who had murdered 14 young men and boys.


1993
Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev died at age 54.


1993
Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died at age 75.


1994
Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant in Detroit. Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison.
”H’WHYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :cry:

2001
With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.


2004
Mijailo Mijailovic confessed to the fatal stabbing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September 2003.


2005
Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison.)

[Kestra]

On Jan. 10, 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0110.html#article))

On January 10, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about foreign policy. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0110.html)

1776
Thomas Paine published the pamphlet "Common Sense."

1861
Florida seceded from the Union.


1863
London's Metropolitan, the world's first underground passenger railway, opened to the public.


1870
John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.


1920
The League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.


1957
Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Great Britain following the resignation of Anthony Eden.


1964
The Beatles' first album in the United States, "Introducing the Beatles," was released.


1967
Republican Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat.


1971
"Masterpiece Theatre" premiered on PBS.


1984
The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.


2000
America Online agreed to buy Time-Warner for $162 billion.


2003
North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons. they were just following giggles' lead.


2005
CBS issued a damning independent review of mistakes related to a "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President George W. Bush's National Guard service and fired three news executives and a producer for their "myopic zeal" in rushing it to air.
yeah, let’s not mention the decider in thief was AWOL. so much for‘freedom of the press’.

2006
Iran resumed nuclear research two years after halting the work to avoid possible U.N. economic sanctions. The move was denounced by the United States and European governments.


2007
President George W. Bush announced he would send 21,500 additional U.S. forces to Iraq in an effort to quell violence there. viloence that was created because of his foepaw.


2008
The United States lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Iran over an incident in which Iranian speedboats harassed U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

[Boby]

2003 - Lillian Evans - automobile accident - animator worked on Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes - Beyond the Farthest Star (8 September 1973) Yesteryear (15 September 1973) One of Our Planets Is Missing (22 September 1973) The Lorelei Signal (29 September 1973) More Tribbles, More Troubles (6 October 1973) The Survivor (13 October 1973) The Infinite Vulcan (20 October 1973) The Magicks of MegasTu (27 October 1973) Once Upon a Planet (3 November 1973) Mudd's Passion (10 November 1973) The Terratin Incident (17 November 1973) The Time Trap (24 November 1973) The Ambergris Element (1 December 1973) The Slaver Weapon (15 December 1973) The Eye of the Beholder (5 January 1974) The Jihad (12 January 1974) The Pirates of Orion (7 September 1974) Bem (14 September 1974) The Practical Joker (21 September 1974) Albatross (28 September 1974) How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (5 October 1974) The CounterClock Incident (12 October 1974)

[Kestra]

thank you, Boby.

On Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0111.html#article))

On January 11, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about tobacco use. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0111.html)


1757
American founding father Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies.


1805
The MichiganTerritory was created.


1861
Alabama seceded from the Union.


1964
U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one's health.


1973
Owners of American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule.


1977
France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.


2001
The Army acknowledged that U.S. soldiers killed an "unknown number" of South Korean refugees early in the Korean War at No Gun Ri.


2003
Calling the death penalty process "arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral," Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state's death row two days before leaving office.

2006
A Georgian court convicted a man of trying to assassinate President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in 2005 with a grenade in Tbilisi and sentenced him to life in prison.


2007
English soccer star David Beckham announced a five-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

2008
Bank of America said it would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion in stock in a deal rescuing the country's biggest mortgage lender.


2008
Former Olympic track gold medalist Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs and her role in a check-fraud scam.


2008
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to conquer Mount Everest, died at age 88.

[Boby]

1991 - Keye Luke - played Governor Donald Cory in a 1969 episode of Star Trek entitled "Whom Gods Destroy", and was going to play Doctor Noonien Soong in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Brothers" but illness prevented him from doing so; Brent Spiner ultimately took over the role.

[Boby]

1999 - Mart McChesney - Mart Dayne McChesney - American actor and activist, an outspoken gay rights activist whose acting career was cut short by illness. His most notable roles were guest appearances, usually in heavy make up, on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

2008 - Viola Stimpson - Viola Kates Stimpson - is the actress who played the tour lady who points out a possible reason for George and Gracie's whale song in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. She often played women credited simply as "Old Woman" or "Old Lady".

[Kestra]

On Jan. 14, 1943, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0114.html#article))

On January 14, 1882, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Apocalypse. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0114.html)

1639
Connecticut's first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, was adopted.

1742
English astronomer Edmond Halley, who observed the comet that now bears his name, died at age 85.

1784
The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

1898
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen name Lewis Carroll - died in Guildford, England, at age 65.

1952
NBC's "Today" show premiered.

1953
Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament.

1954
Baseball player Joe Dimaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe were married at San Francisco City Hall.

1963
George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever."

1969
An explosion ripped through the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise off Hawaii, killing 25 crew members.
i remember that, my oldest bro was on Enterprise when that happened, fortunately he wasn’t harmed.

1970
Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

1993
Late-night TV talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS.

1994
President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed accords in Moscow to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.

1998
Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House about the gathering of FBI background files on past Republican political appointees.

1998
NBC agreed to pay Warner Bros. a record $13 million per episode to retain the top-rated TV show, "ER."

2000
A U.N. tribunal sentenced five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993 massacre of at least 103 Muslims in a Bosnian village.

2004
Former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to conspiracy as he accepted a 10-year prison sentence.

2004
J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. struck a deal to buy Bank One Corp. for $58 billion.

2004
President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to send astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond.

2005
Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.).

2005
A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Saturn's moon, Titan.

2008
Republican Bobby Jindal, the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States, took office in Louisiana.

[Boby]

January 15.

1999 - John Bloom - was the tall actor who played the behemoth alien in the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

January 16.

1979 - Ted Cassidy – Due to his large size, (6ft. 9in.) he portrayed larger than life characters. His deep voice, was used for narrations and for dubbing certain character's voices. He played Ruk, the ancient android discovered by Roger Korby, in the TOS episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Gorn in TOS episode “Arena“ and was uncredited for voice of Balok's Puppet in TOS episode “The Corbomite Maneuver”

1993 - Glenn Corbett – played Zefram Cochrane in TOS episode “Metamorphosis”

2002 - Ron Taylor - was an actor and singer who played the Klingon chef in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Melora" and "Playing God".

[Kestra]

On Jan. 16, 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0116.html#article))

On January 16, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Indian policy. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0116.html)

1547
Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

1920
Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect.

1942
Actress Carole Lombard, 33, died in a plane crash near Las Vegas.

1944
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London.

1964
The musical "Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.

1969
Two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.

1973
The final first-run episode of the long-running western "Bonanza" aired on NBC.

1988
Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was fired as a CBS sports commentator one day after making a racist comment.

1989
Three days of rioting erupted in Miami when a police officer fatally shot a black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of a passenger.

1992
The government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had killed at least 75,000 people.

2001
Laurent Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was killed in a shooting at his home.

2003
The space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven blasted off from Cape Canaveral. (The shuttle broke up during its return descent on Feb. 1, killing everyone on board.)

2004
Pop star Michael Jackson pleaded innocent to child molestation charges in Santa Maria, Calif. (Charges were later re-filed and Jackson was acquitted.)

2006
Africa's first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in as Liberia's president.

2007
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., launched his successful bid for the White House.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 17, 1893, Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0117.html#article)) more like a group of pirates.

On January 17, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0117.html)

1562
French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.


1706
Statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston.


1806
Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha, gave birth to James Madison Randolph, the first child born in the White House.


1893
Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, died in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.

1899
Gangster Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1945
Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.


1945
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.


1946
The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.


1961
In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex." and the state of economy today is the prime example of what happens with the rise of: “the military-industrial complex.”


1977
Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.


1984
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the private use of home video cassette recorders to tape TV programs did not violate federal copyright laws.


1994
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion worth of damage.


1995
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.


1997
A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.


1997
Israel handed over Hebron to the Palestinians, ending 30 years of occupation of the West Bank city.


1998
President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit when he answered questions from lawyers for Paula Jones, who had accused Clinton of sexual harassment.

2001
Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.


2006
The Supreme Court protected Oregon's assisted-suicide law, ruling that doctors there who helped terminally ill patients die could not be arrested under federal drug laws.


2008
Bobby Fischer, the chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, died at age 64.

[Boby]

January 17

1992 - Dick Dial - was a stuntman and stunt actor who appeared in several Star Trek: The Original Series episodes.

1999 - Nicholas Corea - was a writer who was involved in the writing of three episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

2004 - Albert Henderson - is the actor who played Cos in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Rivals".

2004 - Noble Willingham - was an American actor who played Texas in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Royale".

[Kestra]

cool!

On Jan. 18, 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there first.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0118.html#article)) :arge:

On January 18, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about New York City's government. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0118.html)

1778
English navigator Captain James Cook became the first European to reach the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the Sandwich Islands.


1782
Lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, N.H.

1788
The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony.
:scream: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!

1862
John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, died in Richmond, Va., at age 71.


1871
William I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor in Versailles, France.


1892
Oliver Hardy of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia.


1904
Actor Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England.


1911
The first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.


1919
The World War I peace conference opened in Versailles, France.


1936
Author Rudyard Kipling died in Burwash, England, at age 70.


1943
The Soviets announced that they had broken the long Nazi siege of Leningrad.


1967
Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses.


1990
A jury in Los Angeles acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.


1990
Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting. (He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.)


1991
Financially strapped Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business.


1993
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.


2005
The world's largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that can carry 800 passengers, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds..(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0119.html#article))

On January 19, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about trade policy.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0119.html)

1736
James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.

1807
Robert E. Lee, the commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, was born in Stratford, Va.

1809
Author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston.


1853
Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" premiered in Rome.


1861
Georgia seceded from the Union.


1943
Rock singer Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas.


1944
The federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads after settling a wage dispute.


1955
A presidential news conference was filmed for TV for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.


1966
Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.


1970
President Richard Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. The nomination was later defeated because of controversy over Carswell's past racial views.


1979
Former Attorney General John Mitchell was released on parole after serving 19 months in federal prison for Watergate-related crimes.


1981
The United States and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.


1997
Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for the first time in more than 30 years, joining 60,000 Palestinians in celebrating the handover of the last West Bank city in Israeli control.


1998
Rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins died at age 65.


2001
In a deal sparing himself possible indictment, President Bill Clinton acknowledged for the first time making false statements under oath about Monica Lewinsky; he also surrendered his law license for five years.


2004
John Kerry won Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses; Howard Dean, who finished third, delivered a fist-pumping, bellowing concession speech that was viewed as politically damaging.


2006
An unmanned NASA spacecraft blasted off on a 3 billion-mile journey to Pluto.

[Boby]

2000 - Chuck Courtney - was a stuntman, stunt actor, and stunt coordinator, who appeared as Davod in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Patterns of Force". Almost twenty years later, Courtney served as stunt coordinator for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Datalore". He was among the group of stunt coordinators who were hired, prior to Dennis Madalones employment on the series. As a close friend and "father figure", Courtney assisted Madalone in the stunt coordination of several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He received no on-screen credits for this work.

2005 - Cal Bolder - was born Earl Craver and was an American actor and author. He played the role of Keel in the Original Series episode "Friday's Child".

[Boby]

January 21

1988 - Abraham Sofaer - played The Thasian in TOS episode "Charlie X", and the voice of the Melkotian buoy in TOS episode "Spectre of the Gun"

2000 - Bernie Bielawski - portrayed Ferengi background characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He received no credit for his appearances and was identified by the name tags of his costumes which were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay and also worn by fellow Ferengi background performer Vincent Carrera.

2005 - Steve Susskind - played a pitchman in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”.

January 22

2006 - Allen Pinson - stuntman and stunt actor who served as stunt double for Leonard Nimoy in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Bread and Circuses". Pinson received no credit for his work.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0123.html#article))

On January 23, 1864, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0123.html)

1789
Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

1845
Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

1849
English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a medical degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.

1932
New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1937
Seventeen people went on trial in Moscow during Soviet leader Josef Stalin's Great Purge.

1950
The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

1964
The 24th amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.

1968
North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship the USS Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the communist nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was held for 11 months.

1977
The TV mini-series "Roots," based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.

1985
Debate in Britain's House of Lords was carried live on TV for the first time.

1989
Surrealist painter Salvador Dali died in his native Spain at age 84.

1991
Allied forces in the Persian Gulf War announced that they had achieved air superiority after some 12,000 sorties.

1997
A judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced Mir Aimal Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two people and wounded three.

2002
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted in Karachi, Pakistan, by a group demanding the return of prisoners from the Afghan campaign. (He was later murdered.)

2004
Bob Keeshan, TV's "Captain Kangaroo," died at age 76.

2005
Former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson died at age 79

[Kestra]

On Jan. 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0124.html#article))

On January 24, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Emancipation Proclamation. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0124.html)


1848
James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, sparking the gold rush of '49.

1908
The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1924
The Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader.

1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.

1972
The Supreme Court struck down laws that denied welfare benefits to people who had resided in a state for less than a year.

1986
The Voyager 2 space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet from the sun.

1987
Gunmen in Lebanon kidnapped educators Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh. All were later released.

1989
Confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.

1993
Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died at age 84.

1995
The prosecution gave its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

2003
The new federal Department of Homeland Security officially opened as Tom Ridge was sworn in as secretary.

2004
NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars three weeks after its identical twin, Spirit.

2008
French bank Societe Generale announced it had uncovered a $7.14 billion fraud by a single futures trader.

[Boby]

January 23

1992 - Ian Wolfe - appeared twice on Star Trek: The Original Series, first playing Septimus in the episode "Bread and Circuses" and then Mr. Atoz the librarian in "All Our Yesterdays".

1997 - Bill Zuckert - in the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series, played Sheriff Johnny Behan in the episode "Spectre of the Gun".

2001 - Arthur Bernard - played Apella in "A Private Little War", a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.

2007 - David M. Ronne - was the Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated sound man who worked as sound mixer for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.


January 25

1979 - Dick Crockett - was a stunt coordinator and stuntman on TOS.

2000 - Tom Pedigo - was an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated set decorator who worked on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and the first seven episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation' second season.

2004 - Jerry Greenwood - was a special effects technician who did uncredited work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He previously worked at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), joining the company as a construction coordinator in 1975 and departing after two years as the company's supervisor in 1979.


January 26

1997 - Guy Raymond - was the actor from New York who played the human bartender of the Deep Space K-7 station in the classic original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Footage of his appearance was later used in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".

2004 - Cameron McCulloch - was a sound mixer on two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "A Taste of Armageddon".

[Kestra]

thanks for that post, Boby.

On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ''Gus'' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0127.html#article)) remember the Grissom from "Search for Spock"?

On January 27, 1877, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Electoral College controversy. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0127.html)

1756
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

1832
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pen name Lewis Carroll, was born in Cheshire, England.

1880
Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

1885
Broadway composer Jerome Kern was born in New York City.

1901
Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died.

1944
The Soviet Union announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

1945
Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

1951
The era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began.

1967
More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

1973
The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

1977
The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.

1998
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, appearing on NBC's "Today" show, said that allegations against her husband were the work of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

2006
Western Union delivered its last telegram.

2008
Former Indonesian president Suharto, whose regime killed hundreds of thousands of left-wing political opponents, died in Jakarta at age 86.

[Kestra]

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0130.html#article))

On January 30, 1858, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about law and order. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0130.html)

1649
England's King Charles I was beheaded.

1798
A brawl broke out in the House of Representatives in Philadelphia, as Matthew Lyon of Vermont spat in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut.

1882
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.

1883
James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.

1933
Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany.

1933
The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" was broadcast on radio station WXYZ in Detroit.

1962
Two members of the Flying Wallendas high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.

1964
The United States launched Ranger 6, an unmanned spacecraft carrying TV cameras that was to crash-land on the moon.

1968
The Tet offensive began as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.

1969
The Beatles performed as a group for the last time in public in a 45-minute gig on the roof of their Apple Records headquarters in London during the filming of "Let it Be."

1972
Thirteen Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday."

1979
The civilian government of Iran announced it had decided to allow Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to return from exile in France.

2003
Richard Reid, a British citizen and al-Qaida follower, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston for trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes.

2005
Iraqis voted in their country's first free election in a half-century.

[Boby]

You're wellcome, dear!

January 27

2004 - Bill Nunes - animator on TAS.

2007 - Tige Andrews - played the Klingon Kras in the "Friday's Child" episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.

2007 - Claude Binyon, Jr. - was an assistant director for Star Trek: The Original Series during its third season.


January 29

2002 - Barbara Townsend - actress who in 1990 appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing Admiral Connaught Rossa in the fourth season episode "Suddenly Human".


January 30

1983 - Mack Reynolds - novelist who wrote TOS: Mission to Horatius

1995 - Larry Silverman - animator on TAS.

2008 - Herb Kenwith - television director and producer. In 1968, he directed "The Lights of Zetar", a third season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, which aired in January the following year.


January 31

1998 - Gary Nardino - was a producer and former Paramount executive from Paterson, New Jersey and was the Executive Producer of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

2000 - Gil Kane - He did all of the interior artwork, both pencils and inks for #15, "The Quality of Mercy", of Marvel's Star Trek series.

2007 - Lee Bergere - played the Excalbians' recreation of Abraham Lincoln in the Star Trek episode "The Savage Curtain".

[Kestra]

On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0201.html#article))

On February 1, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Reconstruction. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0201.html)

1861
Texas voted to secede from the Union.


1893
Inventor Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange, N.J.

1896
Puccini's opera "La Boheme" premiered in Turin, Italy.


1920
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established.
we always get our man. :hback:

1946
Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.


1968
During the Vietnam War, Saigon's police chief, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head.


1979
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.


1979
Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, whose prison sentence for bank robbery had been commuted by President Jimmy Carter, left a federal prison near San Francisco.


1982
"Late Night with David Letterman" premiered on NBC.

1999
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a deposition that was videotaped for senators weighing impeachment charges against President Bill Clinton.
talk about lowering the bar on impeachable offenses.

2003
the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven crew members.


2004
Singer Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed during a duet with Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl halftime show. Timberlake later referred to the incident as a "wardrobe malfunction."
oh the horror! :eek4: the humanity!!! :faint:

2006
French and German newspapers republished caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in what they called a defense of freedom of expression, sparking fresh anger from Muslims.


2008
Remote-controlled explosives strapped to two women killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad.

for bsg fans: Bill Mumy, 55 Actor, writer ("Lost in Space")

[Kestra]

On Feb. 2, 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.(Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0202.html#article))

On February 2, 1878, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the death of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0202.html)


1536
The Argentine city of Buenos Aires was founded.


1653
New Amsterdam - now New York City - was incorporated.


1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican War.


1870
The Cardiff Giant - supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y. - was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.


1876
The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.


1882
Novelist James Joyce was born near Dublin.


1971
Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda following a coup.


1979
Punk rock musician Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols died of a drug overdose at age 21.


1990
South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.


1996
Dancer, actor and choreographer Gene Kelly died at age 83.


1997
The government released statistics showing deaths from AIDS fell by almost half during the first half of 1997, a decrease attributed to increased use of powerful combinations of medicines.


2004
Deadly ricin was discovered in offices used by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.


2007
A grim report from the world's leading climate scientists and government officials said that global warming was so severe, it would "continue for centuries" and that humans were to blame.


2007
Texas became the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.


2008
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former supermodel Carla Bruni were married at the presidential ElyseePalace.

[Boby]

February 01

1998 - Jack T. Collis - production designer on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, along with Peter Landsdown Smith.

February 04

2008 - Maggie Ostroff - assistant sound, film and music editor for motion pictures. She was an assistant sound editor on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

February 05

1974 - David Hillary Hughes - played Trefayne in TOS episode "Errand of Mercy".

1988 - Bennie E. Dobbins - stuntman, stunt actor, stunt coordinator, and second unit director who performed stunts in several episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. He received no credit for his work.

February 06

2008 - John Alvin - award-winning movie poster artist. He designed and illustrated the posters for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

[Kestra]

On Feb. 14, 1929, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0214.html#article))

On February 14, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Valentine's Day. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0214.html)

1859
Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.

1894
Comedian Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Ill.

1895
Oscar Wilde's final play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James' Theatre in London.

1899
Congress approved and President William McKinley signed legislation authorizing states to use voting machines for federal elections.

1903
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor was established.

1912
Arizona became the 48th state of the Union.

1920
The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago.

1945
Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joined the United Nations.

1962
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the White House.

1979
Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.

1989
Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," a novel Khomeini condemned as blasphemous.

1989
Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India in a court-ordered settlement of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster.

2003
Dolly the sheep - the first mammal cloned from an adult - was put to death at age 6 due to premature aging and disease.

2005
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated.

2006
Iran said it had resumed uranium enrichment; Russia and France immediately called on Iran to halt its work.

2008
A former student walked onto the stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University and opened fire on a packed science class, killing five students before committing suicide

[Kestra]

On Feb. 16, 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0216.html#article))

On February 16, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about women's rights. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0216.html)

1804
Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

1862
Some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn., to Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

1868
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

1918
Lithuania proclaimed its independence.

1937
Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.

1945
American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

1948
NBC-TV aired its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

1959
Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

1968
The nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Ala.

1989
Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, said a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player was what brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground.

1999
Enraged Kurds seized embassies and held hostages across Europe following Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

2002
The operator of a crematory in Noble, Ga., was arrested after dozens of decomposing corpses were found stacked in storage sheds and scattered around the building and surrounding woods.

2005
The NHL canceled what was left of its season after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap - the issue that led to a lockout.

2008
A car plowed into a group of street-racing fans obscured by a cloud of tire smoke on an isolated Maryland highway, killing eight people.

[Kestra]

On Feb. 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0220.html#article))

On February 20, 1858, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Congress. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0220.html)

1790
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.

1792
President George Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

1809
The Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

1839
Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

1895
bolitionist Frederick Douglass died.

1938
British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in protest over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

1944
During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

1965
The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.

1998
American Tara Lipinski became at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, Japan.

1999
Film critic Gene Siskel died at age 53.

2003
Fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

2005
Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death at age 67.

[Kestra]

On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York City; he was 39. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0221.html#article))

On February 21, 1885, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Washington Memorial. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0221.html)

1848
Former President John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He died two days later.


1878
The first telephone directory was issued, by the District Telephone Co. of New Haven, Conn.

1885
The WashingtonMonument was dedicated.


1907
Poet W.H. Auden was born in York, England.


1916
The World War I Battle of Verdun began in France.


1925
The New Yorker magazine made its debut.


1947
Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his PolaroidLand camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.


1972
President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China.


1973
Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the SinaiDesert, killing more than 100 people.


1975
Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.


1988
TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart tearfully confessed to his congregation in Baton Rouge, La., that he was guilty of an unspecified sin, and said he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. Reports linked Swaggart to a prostitute.


1989
President George H.W. Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."


1995
Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Canada.


2002
The State Department declared Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl dead a month after he'd been abducted by Islamic extremists in Pakistan.


2006
President George W. Bush endorsed the takeover of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates, and pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement.
United-Arab-Emirates, known for their connections with terrorist groups, as well as terrorist activities. good work giggles.

[Kestra]

On Feb. 22, 1980, in a stunning upset, the United States Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-to-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.) (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0222.html#article))

On February 22, 1890, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about voting reform. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0222.html)

1732
George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born in the Virginia Colony.


1819
Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

1865
Tennessee adopted a new constitution abolishing slavery.


1879
Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y.
i remember Woolworth’s, i did a lot of shopping there.

1924
Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.

1935
It became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.

1959
The inaugural Daytona 500 race was held in Daytona Beach, Fla.

1987
Pop artist Andy Warhol died at age 58.


1993
The U.N. Security Council approved creation of an international war crimes tribunal to punish those responsible for atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.

1994
The Justice Department charged 31-year CIA veteran Aldrich Ames and his wife, Rosario, with selling national security secrets to the Soviet Union.


2001
A U.N. war crimes tribunal convicted three Bosnian Serbs on charges of rape and torture in the first case of wartime sexual enslavement to go before an international court.

2002
San Diego police arrested David Westerfield in connection with the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. (Westerfield was later convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to death.)

then Chinny wouldn't have been able to hide behind his dummy puppet.

2002
The Angolan army and government announced the killing of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.

2005
A Virginia man was charged with plotting with al-Qaeda to kill President George W. Bush. (Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was later convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.)


2006
Insurgents destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya mosque in Samarra, setting off a spasm of sectarian violence.


2006
Thieves stole $96 million from a Bank of England cash depot 30 miles southeast of London in Britain's largest cash robbery.

:hmm: and how much did CEO’s make off with of the bailout $$ giggles gave them? of course, that's just called "good business".

[Kestra]

On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0223.html#article))
On February 23, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Tammany Hall. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0223.html)

1685
Composer George Frideric Handel was born in Germany.

1822
Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.

1836
The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

1847
U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican general Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.

1848
John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, died at age 80 in Washington, D.C., two days after suffering a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives.

1861
President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office after an assassination plot was foiled in Baltimore.

1870
Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

1927
President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

1942
The first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery in Ellwood, Calif.

1945
U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi and raised the American flag. The moment was captured in a Pulitzer Prize winning photo by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.

1965
Stan Laurel of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy died at age 74.

1981
An attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage.

1991
President George H.W. Bush announced that the allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces had begun.

1997
Scientists in Scotland announced they had cloned an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly.

1997
A Palestinian man opened fire on the observation deck of New York City's EmpireStateBuilding, killing one person and wounding six before shooting himself to death.

1999
A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted white supremacist John William King of murder in the dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr.

2000
Carlos Santana won eight Grammy Awards for his album "Supernatural," tying the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for "Thriller."

2003
Norah Jones won five Grammy Awards for the album "Come Away With Me," tying the record for a female artist held by Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys, and since tied by Beyonce.

[Kestra]

On Feb. 28, 1993, a gun battle erupted near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. (Go to article. (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/../onthisday/big/0228.html#article))

On February 28, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about famine relief for Ireland. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0228.html)


1827
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. was incorporated.


1854
About 50 slavery opponents met in Ripon, Wis., to call for creation of a new political group, which became the Republican Party.


1861
The Territory of Colorado was organized.


1953
Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes, at CambridgeUniversity.


1972
President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China, a step toward the eventual normalization of relations between the two countries.


1974
The United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.


1975
A subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel in London's Underground, killing more than 40 people.


1983
The album "War" by U2 was released.


1986
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

1991
Allied and Iraqi forces suspended their attacks as Iraq pledged to accept all United Nations resolutions concerning Kuwait.


2002
A body found outside San Diego was identified as that of Danielle van Dam, 7, who'd disappeared from her bedroom about a month earlier; a neighbor was later convicted of her murder and sentenced to death.


2005
Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, resigned amid large anti-Syria street demonstrations in Beirut.


2007
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died at age 89.

[Kestra]

On March 2, 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote. (Go to article. (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/../onthisday/big/0302.html#article))

On March 2, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Abraham Lincoln. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0302.html)

1793
Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas, was born near Lexington, Va.

1807
Congress outlawed the importing of slaves to the United States, effective the following year.


1836
Texas declared its independence from Mexico.


1899
Congress established Mount RainierNational Park in Washington state.

1917
Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship.


1923
Time magazine debuted.


1933
The movie "King Kong" had its world premiere in New York.


1939
Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope and took the name Pius XII.


1949
An American B-50 Superfortress, the Lucky Lady II, landed at Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop, around-the-world flight.


1959
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis held the first of two recording sessions that yielded the album "Kind of Blue."


1962
Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored an NBA record 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks.


1965
The movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" had its world premiere in New York.


1985
The federal government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply.


1997
It was revealed that Vice President Al Gore had made fund-raising calls for the 1996 election on phones installed in government buildings for that purpose.


2004
A series of coordinated blasts in Iraq killed 181 people at shrines in Karbala and Baghdad as thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims gathered for a religious festival.


2006
President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal in New Delhi.


2008
Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, scored a crushing victory in Russia's presidential election.

[Kestra]

On March 7, 1965, a march by civil rights demonstrators was broken up in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff's posse. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0307.html#article))

On March 7, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Napoleon III and Mexico. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0307.html)

1850
In a three-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union.


1875
Composer Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France.


1876
Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone.
:Phone:

1926
The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London.


1936
Adolf Hitler ordered German troops to march into the Rhineland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.


1945
U.S. forces crossed the RhineRiver at Remagen, Germany, during World War II.


1975
The Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.


1994
The Supreme Court ruled that parodies that poke fun at an original work can be considered "fair use" that doesn't require permission from the copyright holder.


1996
Three U.S. servicemen were convicted in the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawa girl and sentenced by a Japanese court to up to seven years in prison.


1999
Movie director Stanley Kubrick died at age 70.


2003
A four-day walkout by Broadway musicians began, forcing nearly every Broadway musical to cancel performances.


2004
An investiture ceremony was held in Concord, N.H., for V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop.


2007
Sex offender John Evander Couey was found guilty in Miami of kidnapping, raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was buried alive.

[Kestra]

On March 8, 1917, Russia's February Revolution (so called because of the Old Style calendar used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0308.html#article))

On March 8, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about international trade. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0308.html)

1702
England's Queen Anne ascended the throne upon the death of King William III.


1782
The Gnadenhutten massacre took place as some 90 Indians were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.


1841
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was born in Boston.


1874
Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States, died in Buffalo, N.Y., at age 74.


1917
The U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.


1930
William Howard Taft, the 27th president and a former chief justice of the United States, died in Washington, D.C., at age 72.


1965
The United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam.


1999
Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died at age 84.


1999
The Clinton administration directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory because of alleged security violations.


2001
The Republican-controlled House voted for an across-the-board tax cut of nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg132/Kestra_R/freemoney.gif
and that was only the first of three tax cuts he gave to the very rich during his reign. any wonder why we’re in the fix we are in today?

2004
Abul Abbas, the Palestinian guerrilla leader who planned the hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship, died while in U.S. custody in Baghdad, Iraq.


2005
Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed in northern Chechnya during a raid by Russian forces.


2008
President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

:king: ”the United States does not torture.” :liar3:

[Kestra]

On March 14, 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0314.html#article))

On March 14, 1885, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Britain and Russia. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0314.html)

1743
The first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

1794
Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin.


1879
Physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany.

1883
Political philosopher Karl Marx died at age 64.

1923
President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report.

1939
The Republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation.

1951
United Nations forces recaptured Seoul during the Korean War.

1964
A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

1967
The body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at ArlingtonNationalCemetery.

1993
An independent U.N.-sponsored commission released a report blaming the bulk of atrocities committed during El Salvador's civil war on the country's military.

1994
Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell resigned because of controversy over billings he'd charged while in private law practice.

1995
Astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to enter space aboard a Russian rocket as he and two cosmonauts blasted off aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, headed for the Mir space station.

2002
The government charged the Arthur Andersen accounting firm with obstruction of justice, securing its first indictment in the collapse of Enron.

2004
Opposition Socialists scored a dramatic upset win in Spain's general election, unseating conservatives stung by charges they'd provoked the Madrid terror bombings by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

2004
Russian President Vladimir Putin captured more than 70 percent of the vote to win a second term in an election that European observers said fell short of democratic standards.

2005
A judge in San Francisco ruled that California's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

2005
About one million people rallied in Beirut, Lebanon, demanding Syrian withdrawal and the arrest of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's killers.

[Kestra]

On March 15, 1965, addressing a joint session of Congress, President Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0315.html#article))

On March 15, 1873, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a federal government scandal. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0315.html)

44 B.C.
Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.

"ee to Brutay?"

1493
Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.

1767
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was born in Waxhaw, S.C.

1820
Maine became the 23rd state.

1875
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City, John McCloskey, was named the first American cardinal by Pope Pius IX.

1913
President Woodrow Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.

1919
The American Legion was founded in Paris.

1956
The Lerner and Loewe musical "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway.

1964
Actress Elizabeth Taylor and actor Richard Burton were married.

1975
Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, the husband of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, died at age 69.

1977
The U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on TV.

2003
Hu Jintao was chosen to replace Jiang Zemin as the president of China.

2004
Martha Stewart resigned from the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 10 days after she was convicted in a stock scandal.

2005
Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers was convicted in New York of engineering the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history. (He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.)

2008
A construction crane toppled in New York City, killing seven people.

[Kestra]

On March 16,1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre was carried out by United States troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0316.html#article))

On March 16, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a bank scandal in New York City. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0316.html)

1521
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.

1751
James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.

1802
Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

1836
The Republic of Texas approved a constitution.

1850
"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published.

1915
The Federal Trade Commission was organized.

1935
Adolf Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles.

1984
William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen.

1985
Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut.

1988
Former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and former White House aide Oliver L. North were indicted on charges relating to the Iran-Contra affair. (Their convictions were later thrown out.)

1994
Figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Ore., to conspiracy for covering up the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

1998
The Vatican expressed remorse for the cowardice of some Christians during the Holocaust, but defended the actions of Pope Pius XII.

2003
Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American college student, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block Israeli troops from demolishing a Palestinian home in Gaza.

2005
A judge in Redwood City, Calif., sent Scott Peterson to death row for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci.

2005
A jury in Los Angeles acquitted actor Robert Blake of murder in the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (A civil court jury later ordered Blake to pay $30 million to Bakley's four children.)

[Kestra]

On March 21, 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0321.html#article))

On March 21, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the women's temperance crusade. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0321.html)

1685
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.

1790
Thomas Jefferson took office as America's first secretary of state.

1804
The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was adopted.

1867
Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld was born in Chicago.

1871
Journalist Henry M. Stanley began an expedition to Africa to locate missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone.
”dr Livingstone I presume.”

1918
Germany launched the Somme offensive during World War I, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.

1945
Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany during World War II.

1946
The United Nations set up temporary headquarters at HunterCollege in New York City.

1960
Police fired on demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, killing some 70 people.

1963
Alcatraz prison in San FranciscoBay was emptied of its last inmates.

1985
Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.

1989
Randall Dale Adams, whose conviction for killing a police officer was overturned after the documentary "The Thin Blue Line" challenged evidence, was released from a Texas prison.

2000
A divided Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug.

2005
Armed with a new law rushed through Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents pleaded with a judge to order the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube re-inserted. (The judge later refused.)

for that he could 'interrupt' his vacation and sneak back to DC in the middle of the night to sign (it was an election year). as for Louisiana hurricane victims? his aids were afraid to "bother" him whilst on vacation because he would get angry. :arge: he refused to even be 'bothered' to be notified of horrific events that the entire world was shocked to see and knew about. but not :king: giggles, because he was “on vacation”. oh he did find time to have b'day cake with his pal, McShame while thousands died.

[Kestra]

On March 22, 1972, Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. It fell short of the three-fourths approval needed. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0322.html#article))

On March 22, 1890, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the American theater. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0322.html)


1765
Britain enacted the Stamp Act to raise money from the American colonies.


1882
Congress outlawed polygamy.


1894
Hockey's first Stanley Cup championship game was played as the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association defeated the Ottawa Capitals 3-1 in Montreal.


1895
In what is generally regarded as the first public display of a movie projected onto a screen, Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris.


1933
During Prohibition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine and beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal.
1941
The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state went into operation.
my dad helped build GCD.


1945
The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.


1946
The British mandate in Transjordan came to an end.


1963
The Beatles' first album, "Please Please Me," was released in Great Britain.


1965
Bob Dylan's album "Bringing It All Back Home" - his first featuring electric guitar - was released.


1987
A barge carrying 3,200 tons of garbage left Islip, N.Y., on a six-month journey in search of a place to unload. The barge was turned away by several states and three countries before space was found back in Islip.


1990
A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found former tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but convicted him of a minor charge of negligent discharge of oil.
discharge of oil.
1991
High school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband, was convicted in Exeter, N.H., of murder-conspiracy.


1995
Colin Ferguson was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train in 1993.


1997
Tara Lipinski of the United States became the youngest women's world figure skating champion at age 14 years, 10 months.


2004
Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli airstrike in GazaCity.


2006
The Basque separatist group ETA announced a permanent cease-fire with Spain.

[Kestra]

On March 23, 1965, America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini 3 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0323.html#article))

On March 23, 1867, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about overcrowding on public transportation. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0323.html)


1743
George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its premiere, in London.


1775
Patrick Henry called for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"


1806
Explorers Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east.


1919
Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.


1933
The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.


1942
During World War II, the U.S. government began moving Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes to detention centers.


1981
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.


1983
President Ronald Reagan proposed the development of technology to intercept enemy nuclear missiles; the plan was dubbed "Star Wars" by its critics.


1983
Dr. Barney Clark died after living 112 days with a permanent artificial heart.


1990
Former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood was sentenced by a judge in Anchorage, Alaska, to help clean up Prince William Sound and pay $50,000 in restitution for his role in the nation's worst oil spill.


1994
Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League career record with his 802nd goal.


1998
The movie "Titanic" won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best song, to tie the record set by 1959's "Ben-Hur." (The record was tied again by "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in 2003.)


2001
Russia's orbiting Mir space station ended its 15-year odyssey with a fiery plunge into the South Pacific.


2003
A U.S. Army maintenance convoy was ambushed in Iraq; 11 soldiers were killed and seven were captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch.


2008
A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.

[Kestra]

On March 27, 1958, Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0327.html#article))

let the shoe banging on table begin

On March 27, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about anti-Chinese violence. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0327.html)


1513
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.


1625
Charles I ascended the English throne upon the death of James I.


1794
President George Washington and Congress authorized creation of the U.S. Navy.


1836
The first Mormon temple was dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.


1939
Oregon won the first NCAA men's basketball tournament with a 46-33 victory over OhioState in Evanston, Ill.

1945
During World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken.


1964
Alaska was rocked by a powerful earthquake that killed 114 people.
:earthq:


1977
A KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife, killing 582 people.


1996
An Israeli court convicted Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's confessed assassin of murder, then sentenced former law student Yigal Amir to life in prison.


1997
Dexter King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., met with James Earl Ray, the man in prison for the assassination of the civil rights leader. Ray denied having anything to do with the shooting, to which King replied, "I believe you."


1998
The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, to fight male impotence.


2001
California regulators approved electricity rate hikes of up to 46 percent.


2002
A suicide bomber killed 29 Israelis during a Passover Seder in Netanya, Israel.


2002
Comedian Milton Berle died at age 93.


2006
Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified at his federal trial that he was supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House.


2007
NFL owners voted 30-2 to make the video replay system a permanent officiating tool.

[Kestra]

On March 28, 1979, America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0328.html#article))

On March 28, 1863 Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0328.html)


1797
Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patented a washing machine.


1834
The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.


1854
Britain and France declared war on Russia during the Crimean War.


1898
The Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen, and therefore could not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act.


1930
The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.


1939
The Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.


1941
Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf drowned herself near her home in England at age 59.


1943
Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff died at age 70.


1969
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.


1987
Maria von Trapp, whose life inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music," died at age 82.


2000
In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court sharply curtailed police power to rely on tips to stop and search people.


2002
The Arab League agreed on a peace plan that offered Israel normal relations in exchange for a full withdrawal from war-won lands and a Palestinian state.


2006
More than 1 million people poured into streets across France and strikers disrupted air, rail and bus travel in the largest nationwide protest over a youth labor law.

[Kestra]

On March 29, 1973, the last United States troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0329.html#article))On March 29, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about black Americans and a bank scandal. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0329.html)

1790
John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, was born in Charles City County, Va.

1867
The British Parliament passed the North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.

1867
Baseball Hall of Famer Cy Young was born in Gilmore, Ohio.

1882
The Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut.

1943
Rationing of meat, butter and cheese began during World War II.

1951
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.

1962
Jack Paar hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the final time.

1971
Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre. (He spent three years under house arrest.)

1971
A jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. The sentences were later commuted.

1974
Eight Ohio National Guardsmen were indicted on charges stemming from the shooting deaths of four students at KentStateUniversity. The guardsmen were later acquitted.

1992
Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton acknowledged experimenting with marijuana "a time or two" while attending OxfordUniversity, adding, "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again."

1999
Wayne Gretzky of the New York Rangers scored the last of his National Hockey League record 894 goals in a home game against the New York Islanders.

1999
The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time, at 10,006.78.

2002
Israel declared Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat an enemy and sent tanks and armored personnel carriers to fully isolate him in his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

2005
Attorney Johnnie Cochran died at age 67.

2006
Hamas formally took over the Palestinian government.

[Kestra]

On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0330.html#article))

On March 30, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a New York railroad scandal. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0330.html)


1822
Florida became a U.S. territory.


1867
Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly."


1870
The 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.


1870
Texas was readmitted to the Union.


1909
The QueensboroBridge, linking the New York boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, opened.


1945
The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.


1964
The TV game show "Jeopardy!" premiered on NBC.


1986
Actor James Cagney died at age 86.


1995
Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical condemning abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize.


1999
A jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.


2002
Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth died at age 101.


2006
American reporter Jill Carroll, a freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was released after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq.


2008
Cambodian-born journalist Dith Pran, whose story became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died at age 65.


2008
President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington National's new stadium, NationalsPark.

[Kestra]

On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0403.html#article))

On April 3, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Senate and the presidential appointment power. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0403.html)

1783
Author Washington Irving was born in New York City.

1860
The Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.:hback:

1865
Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.

1882
Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of his gang.

1924
Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Neb.

1936
Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby.

1946
Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed in the Philippines.

1968
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., less than 24 hours before he was assassinated.

1968
North Vietnam agreed to meet with U.S. representatives to set up preliminary peace talks.

1996
An Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.

1996
Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.

1998
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time.

2000
A federal judge in Washington ruled that Microsoft Corp. had violated U.S. antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on competitors during the race to link Americans to the Internet.

2004
Surrounded by police, five suspects in the Madrid railway bombings blew themselves up in a building outside the Spanish capital, also killing a special forces agent.

2006
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, denying he'd helped destabilize West Africa through killings, sexual slavery and sending children into combat.

[Kestra]

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0404.html#article))

On April 4, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a female spy in the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0404.html)

1818
Congress decided the U.S. flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.

1841
President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the first U.S. president to die in office.

1850
The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

1887
Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community - Argonia, Kan.

1888
Baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker was born in Hubbard, Texas.

1902
British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships at OxfordUniversity in England.

1945
U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.

1949
Twelve nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty.

1974
Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's career home run record by hitting his 714th round-tripper in Cincinnati.

1975
A U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed shortly after takeoff from Saigon, killing more than 130 people, most of them children.

1981
Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city - San Antonio, Texas.

1988
The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office.

1991
Sen. John Heinz, R-Penn., and six other people were killed when a helicopter collided with Heinz's plane over a schoolyard in Merion, Pa.

1999
The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's first season opener held in Mexico.

2003
U.S. forces seized SaddamInternationalAirport outside Baghdad.

2003
Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the 18th major league baseball player to hit 500 career homers, connecting for a solo shot in a 10-9 loss to Cincinnati.

2006
The Iraq tribunal charged Saddam Hussein and six others, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from a 1980s crackdown against Kurds.

2007
Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the RutgersUniversity women's basketball team. Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC.

[Kestra]

On April 6, 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0406.html#article))

On April 6, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a Congressional investigation into arms sales. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0406.html)

1830
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, N.Y.

1896
The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece.

1917
Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.

1971
Composer Igor Stravinsky died at age 88.

1983
Interior Secretary James Watt banned the Beach Boys from the 4th of July celebration on the Washington Mall, saying rock 'n' roll bands attract the "wrong element."

1987
Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in major league baseball. (Campanis resigned two days later).

1992
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov died at age 72.

1998
The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000 points for the first time.

1998
Pakistan successfully tested a medium-range missile capable of striking neighboring India.

1998
Country singer Tammy Wynette died at age 55.

2001
Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, accused of bringing explosives into the United States days before the millennium celebrations, was convicted on terror charges.

2004
Jordan's military court convicted eight Muslim militants and sentenced them to death for the 2002 killing of U.S. aid official Laurence Foley in a terror conspiracy linked to al-Qaida.

2004
The University of Connecticut became the first school to win the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball titles in the same season as the women's team beat Tennessee 70-61 for their third consecutive championship.

2005
Prince Rainier III of Monaco died at age 81.

[Kestra]

On April 7, 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0407.html#article))

On April 7, 1883, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Jay Gould and Wall Street. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0407.html)

1862 Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

1927 An audience in New York saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.

1939 Italy invaded Albania.

1947 Auto pioneer Henry Ford died at age 83.

1948 The World Health Organization was founded.

1949 The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" opened on Broadway.

1953 The U.N. General Assembly elected Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden to be secretary-general.

1957 New York City's last electric trolley completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan.

1969 The Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.

1976 China's leadership deposed Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping.

1990 Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter was convicted of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. (A federal appeals court later reversed the convictions.)

1990 A display of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs opened at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center; the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges.

1994 Civil war erupted in Rwanda, a day after a plane crash claimed the lives of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.

2001 NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft took off on a six-month, 286-million-mile journey to the red planet.

2001 An unarmed black man wanted on 14 misdemeanor warrants was fatally shot by a white police officer in Cincinnati, sparking three days of riots.

2003 U.S. troops in more than 100 U.S. armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Baghdad and seized one of Saddam Hussein's opulent palaces.

2003 The Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold a 50-year-old Virginia law making it a crime to burn a cross as an act of intimidation.

2007 A Russian rocket carrying American billionaire Charles Simonyi roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending its three occupants on a trip to the international space station.

[Kestra]

On April 11, 1951, President Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0411.html#article))

On April 11, 1885, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about college sports and education. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0411.html)

1689
William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

1814
Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba.

1898
President William McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war against Spain.

1899
The treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

1921
Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax.

1945
American soldiers liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

1970
Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon that was cut short when an explosion crippled the spacecraft.

1979
Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

1980
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors.

1981
President Ronald Reagan returned to the White House from the hospital, 12 days after he was wounded in an assassination attempt.

2001
Ending an 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane that had collided with a Chinese fighter plane, killing its pilot.

2002
U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, was convicted of taking bribes and kickbacks from businessmen and his own staff. (He was sentenced to eight years in prison.)

2003
American troops took the northern Iraqi city of Mosul without a fight.

2006
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country had succeeded in enriching uranium on a small scale for the first time.

2006
Israel's Cabinet declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon permanently incapacitated.

2007
North Carolina's top prosecutor dropped all charges against three former DukeUniversity lacrosse players falsely accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party.

2007
Author Kurt Vonnegut died at age 84.

[Kestra]

On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63. Vice President Harry S Truman became president. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0412.html#article))

On April 12, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Civil War journalism. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0412.html)


1606
England adopted the Union Jack as its flag.


1861
The Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on FortSumter in South Carolina.


1877
The catcher for Harvard's baseball team, James Tyng, wore a modified fencing mask behind the plate. It is believed to be the first time a catcher's mask was used during a game.


1955
The Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.


1961
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the Earth once before making a safe landing.


1981
The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight.


1983
Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first African-American mayor.


1985
Sen. Jake Garn of Utah became the first senator to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1989
Former middleweight boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died at age 67.


1992
Euro Disneyland, a $4 billion theme park, opened in Marne-La-Vallee, France.


1999
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for giving "intentionally false" testimony in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.


2001
Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken declared a state of emergency amid an outbreak of racial violence.


2002
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resigned under pressure from the country's divided military. (He was returned to office two days later.)


2004
Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list. (Bonds is now the career leader in home runs.)


2007
A suicide bomber breached security in Iraq's parliament and blew himself up in the dining hall; a Sunni parliament member was killed.

[Kestra]

On April 15, 1912, the British luxury liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg. About 1,500 people died. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0415.html#article))

On April 15, 1882, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about P. T. Barnum and Jumbo the elephant. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0415.html)

1850 The city of San Francisco was incorporated.

1861 President Abraham Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

1865 Andrew Johnson became the 17th president of the United States after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

1945 British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

1947 Jackie Robinson became baseball's first black major league player when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. (His uniform No. 42 was retired on the same date in 1997.)

1980 Existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre died in Paris at age 74.

1981 Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke relinquished the Pulitzer Prize she had received two days earlier for a feature about an 8-year-old heroin addict after admitting she had fabricated the story.

1986 The United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5; Libya said 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

1989 Students in Beijing launched a series of pro-democracy protests upon the death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang.

1990 Actress Greta Garbo died at age 84.

1998 Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s, died at age 73.

2000 Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles became the 24th major league player to reach 3,000 hits.

2002 Retired Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White died at age 84.

2008 Pope Benedict XVI arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., on his first visit to the U.S. as pontiff.

[Kestra]

On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0417.html#article))

On April 17, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0417.html)

1492
Christopher Columbus received a commission from Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.

1521
Martin Luther went before the Diet of Worms to face charges stemming from his religious writings.

1524
Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York harbor.

1790
American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.

1861
The Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.

1951
Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle made his major league debut with the New York Yankees.

1964
The Ford Motor Co. unveiled the Mustang.

1969
A jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

1969
Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed.

1970
The astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft.

1975
Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's five-year civil war.

1993
A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted two former police officers of violating the civil rights of beaten motorist Rodney King; two other officers were acquitted.

1996
Lyle and Erik Menendez were spared the death penalty by a Los Angeles jury, which recommended they serve life in prison without parole for killing their wealthy parents.

1998
Linda McCartney, wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, died at age 55.

2001
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 500th career home run, becoming the 17th major leaguer to reach the mark.

[Kestra]

On April 18, 1906, a major earthquake struck San Francisco and set off raging fires. More than 3,000 people died. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0418.html#article))

On April 18, 1885, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the latest shoe fashion fad. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0418.html)


1775
Paul Revere began his ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.


1923
The first baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium in New York City, with the Yankees beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1.


1942
An air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.


1945
American war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese gunfire on an island off Okinawa.


1946
The League of Nations went out of business.


1949
The IrishRepublic was proclaimed.


1955
Physicist Albert Einstein died at age 76.


1956
Actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco.


1978
The U.S. Senate voted 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control in 1999.


1983
A suicide bomber killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.


1989
Thousands of Chinese students demanding democracy tried to storm Communist Party headquarters in Beijing.


1999
Wayne Gretzky, the National Hockey League's all-time leading scorer, played his last professional game, at MadisonSquareGarden in New York.


2002
Police arrested actor Robert Blake in the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (Blake was later acquitted of murder but found liable in a civil case.)


2004
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered a withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.


2006
Actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes had a baby girl, Suri.


2007
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upheld a federal ban on a medical procedure that opponents calls partial-birth abortion.


2007
Four large bombs exploded in mainly Shiite locations of Baghdad, killing at least 183 people.

[Kestra]

it's darlings' and my 20th anniversary today. and on our anniversary the following events took place:

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.) (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0419.html#article))

On April 19, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the bipartisan reform team of Theodore Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0419.html)

1775
The American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

1897
The first Boston Marathon was run.

1906
My grandfather arrived from Sweden and landed in San Fransisco

1933
The United States went off the gold standard.

1943
Tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began an uprising against Nazi forces.

1951
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command by President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

1989
A white female jogger in New York's Central Park was brutally beaten and raped. (Five black and Hispanic teenagers were imprisoned, but the convictions were overturned in 2003 when a serial rapist confessed and DNA evidence tied him to the crime.)

1993
A 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed the structure after federal agents smashed their way in. Dozens of people, including sect leader David Koresh, were killed.

1994
A Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.

1997
Flooding from the Red River forced more than 50,000 residents to abandon Grand Forks, N.D.

1999
The German parliament inaugurated its new home in the restored Reichstag in Berlin, its prewar capital.

2001
The Mel Brooks musical "The Producers" opened on Broadway.

2005
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope; he took the name Benedict XVI.

[Kestra]

On April 20, 1971, the United States Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0420.html#article))

On April 20, 1867, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the purchase of Alaska by the United States. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0420.html)


1792
France declared war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.


1812
Vice President George Clinton, a former New York governor, died at age 72.


1836
The Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.


1889
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.


1902
Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.

1939
Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.

1940
RCA publicly demonstrated its new electron microscope.


1945
Allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart during World War II.


1968
Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.


1972
The manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.


1980
The first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.


1999
Two students went on a shooting rampage at ColumbineHigh School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives.


2005
President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy.


2008
Danica Patrick became the first female winner in IndyCar history, capturing the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career start.

[Kestra]

On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0424.html#article))

On April 24, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a union-sponsored boycott. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0424.html)


1792
The French national anthem, "La Marseillaise," was composed by Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.


1800
Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.


1877
Federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South.


1915
The Ottoman Empire rounded up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople at the start of what many scholars regard as the first genocide of the 20th century, in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died.


1916
The Easter uprising began when some 1,600 Irish nationalists seized several key sites in Dublin.


1953
British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.


1962
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal.


1968
Leftist students at ColumbiaUniversity in New York City began a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings.


1980
The United States launched an abortive attempt to free the American hostages in Iran; eight U.S. servicemen died.


1990
The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.


1996
The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.


2005
Pope Benedict XVI was installed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in cermonies at the Vatican.

[Kestra]

On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviets died immediately. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0426.html#article))

On April 26, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Union naval victories in the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0426.html)


1607
An expedition of English colonists went ashore at Cape Henry, Va., to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere. (They later settled at Jamestown.)


1785
Naturalist and artist John James Audubon was born in Haiti.

1865
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded and killed by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va.

1937
Planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.


1945
Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France's Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.


1964
The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.


1989
Actress-comedian Lucille Ball died at age 77.


1998
Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading human rights activist in Guatemala, was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he'd compiled on atrocities during Guatemala's 36-year civil war was made public.


2000
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.


2002
An expelled student went on a shooting rampage at a school in Erfurt, Germany, killing 13 teachers, two students and a police officer before taking his own life.


2004
The government unveiled the new colorized $50 bill.


2005
Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended as Syrian soldiers completed a withdrawal brought about by international pressure and Lebanese street protests.


2008
Police in Austria arrested Josef Fritzl, freeing his daughter Elisabeth and her six children, whom he had fathered while holding her captive in a cellar for 24 years.

[VulcanGirl]

LUCY!!!!! She was so cool!!!!!

[Mriana]

Yes, she was and I was sad to see she died in '89, Majel hit me harder though. Did you know Majel worked with DesiLu, esp Lucy?

[Kestra]

On May 3, 1971, anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed at shutting down the nation's capital. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0503.html#article))

On May 3, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Canada and the British Empire. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0503.html)


1802
Washington, D.C., was incorporated.


1898
Israeli founder and prime minister Golda Meir was born Goldie Mabovitch in Kiev, Ukraine.


1916
Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter uprising.


1921
West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.


1936
Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut with the New York Yankees.


1937
Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel "Gone with the Wind."


1948
The Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities were legally unenforceable.


1960
The musical "The Fantasticks" opened off-Broadway, beginning a record run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances.


1979
Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.


1988
The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule President Ronald Reagan's activities.
:hmm:


2001
The United States lost its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
:hmm:


2005
Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in.


2006
A federal jury in Alexandria, Va., rejected the death penalty for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, deciding he should spend life in prison for his role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.


2007
Astronaut Wally Schirra died at age 84.

[Kestra]

On May 8, 1973, militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0508.html#article))

On May 8, 1875, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about public education and the Roman Catholic Church. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0508.html)

1541
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

1794
Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was executed on the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror.

1884
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, was born in Lamar, Mo.

1886
Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola.

1944
The first "eye bank" was established, in New York City.

1945
President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.

1958
Vice President Richard Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.

1968
Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the Oakland Athletics pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins in Oakland. Hunter also drove in three of the Athletics' four runs.

1970
Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City's Wall Street.

1970
The album "Let It Be" by the Beatles was released.

1978
David Berkowitz pleaded guilty in Brooklyn to the "Son of Sam" killings.

1987
Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1999
The Citadel, South Carolina's formerly all-male military school, graduated its first female cadet.

[Kestra]

On May 9, 1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0509.html#article))
then 14 years later US followed suit.

On May 9, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the process of emancipation from slavery during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0509.html)

1502
Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.


1913
The 17th amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was ratified.


1926
Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett made what they claimed was the first airplane flight over the North Pole. (Evidence suggests they may have missed their target by 150 miles.)


1936
Italy annexed Ethiopia.


1960
Sthe Food and Drug Administration approved use of a birth control pill.


1961
Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned TV programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.


1974
The House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.


1974
Bruce Springsteen performed a concert in Cambridge, Mass., that prompted rock critic Jon Landau to write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen."


1978
The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.


1994
Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus.

2000
Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was convicted of extortion schemes to manipulate the licensing of riverboat casinos.


2002
Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening suspended executions in his state while a study was done on whether the death penalty was being meted out in a racially discriminatory way. (Glendening's successor, Gov. Robert Ehrlich, lifted the moratorium seven months later.)


2004
Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov and 23 other people were killed in a bombing in the capital Grozny.

[Kestra]

On May 15, 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0515.html#article))

On May 15, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about women's rights. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0515.html)


1886
Poet Emily Dickinson died at age 55.


1918
U.S. airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.


1930
Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo.

1940
Nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States.


1942
Gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states.


1948
Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.


1969
Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned amid a controversy over his past legal fees.


1970
Two black students at JacksonStateUniversity in Mississippi were killed when police opened fire during student protests.


1972
Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Laurel, Md., and left permanently paralyzed below the waist.


1981
Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.


1988
The Soviet Union began withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan.


1995
Dow Corning Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing potentially astronomical expenses from liability lawsuits.


1996
Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole announced he was leaving the Senate after 27 years to challenge President Bill Clinton full time.


2001
A runaway freight train rolled about 70 miles through Ohio with no one aboard before a railroad employee jumped onto the locomotive and brought it to a stop.


2003
Texas Democrats boarded two buses and returned home after a self-imposed four-day exile in Oklahoma that temporarily succeeded in killing a redistricting plan they opposed.


2003
Country musician June Carter Cash died at age 73.


2006
A defiant Saddam Hussein refused to enter a plea at his trial, insisting he was still Iraq's president as a judge formally charged him with crimes against humanity.


2006
The United States removed Libya from its list of terrorist states and said it would restore normal diplomatic relations.


2007
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who built the Christian right into a political force, died at age 73.


2007
Yolanda King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died at age 51.


2008
California's Supreme Court declared gay couples in the state could marry ‚ a victory for the gay rights movement that was overturned by the passage of Proposition 8 the following November.

[Kestra]

On May 16, 1868, the United States Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against him. (Johnson was acquitted of all charges.) (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0516.html#article))

On May 16, 1857, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the first attempt to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0516.html)


1770
Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.


1866
Congress authorized minting of the nickel.


1905
Actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Neb.

1920
Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.


1929
The first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.


1946
The musical "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.


1966
The album "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys was released.


1966
the album "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan was released.


1975
Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.


1990
Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. died at age 64.


1990
"Muppets" creator Jim Henson died at age 53.


1991
Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.


1995
Japanese police arrested doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara, holding him in connection with the nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier.


1997
Zaire's president, Mobutu Sese Seko, ended 32 years of autocratic rule, giving control of the country to rebel forces.


2001
Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow.


2002
The remains of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl were unearthed in Pakistan.


2003
Five simultaneous suicide attacks claimed the lives of 33 victims and a dozen suicide bombers in Casablanca, Morocco.


2005
Newsweek magazine retracted a story that claimed investigators had found evidence the Quran was desecrated by interrogators at the U.S. naval prison at GuantanamoBay. The story had sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan.


2005
Army Specialist Sabrina Harman was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. (She was later sentenced to six months in prison.)


2007
Nicolas Sarkozy took over from Jacques Chirac as France's president.

[Kestra]

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, which declared that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0517.html#article))

On May 17, 1890, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about capital punishment. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0517.html)

1792
The New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting under a tree on what is now Wall Street.

1829
John Jay, American statesman and the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, died at age 83.


1875
The first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was Aristides.


1939
Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by reigning British sovereigns.


1940
The Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II.


1946
President Harry S. Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.


1973
The Senate began hearings into the Watergate scandal.


1980
Rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami's LibertyCity neighborhood after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating a black man.


1987
An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 American sailors. Iraq and the United States called the attack a mistake.


1992
Orchestra leader Lawrence Welk died at age 89.


1996
President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan's Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994.


1997
Rebel leader Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.


1998
New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.


1999
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak unseated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli elections.


2000
Two former Ku Klux Klansmen were arrested on murder charges in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., that killed four black girls.


2003
A top Vatican official confirmed that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease.


2004
Massachusetts became the first state to allow legal same-sex marriages.


2005
Los Angeles Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa trounced Mayor James Hahn to be elected the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century.


2007
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz announced he would resign following controversy over his handling of a pay package for his girlfriend.


2007
Trains crossed the border dividing the two Koreas for the first time in more than half a century.

[Kestra]

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0518.html#article)) i remember that, we heard 5 explosions, each louder than the last.

On May 18, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Presidential election of 1872. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0518.html)


1642
The Canadian city of Montreal was founded.


1804
The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.


1896
The Supreme Court endorsed the concept of "separate but equal" racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, a precedent that was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.


1897
A public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel "Dracula, or, The Un-dead" was staged in London.


1911
Composer Gustav Mahler died in Vienna, Austria.


1920
Pope John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland.


1933
The Tennessee Valley Authority was created.


1951
The United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., for its permanent home in Manhattan.


1969
Apollo 10 was launched on a mission that served as a dress rehearsal for the first moon landing.


1998
The federal government filed a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.


2003
"Les Miserables," the third-longest running show in Broadway history, closed after more than 16 years and 6,680 performances.


2004
Randy Johnson became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game; the 40-year-old lefty retired all 27 batters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves 2-0.

[Kestra]

On May 29, 1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and sherpa Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0529.html#article))

On May 29, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about completion of the first transcontinental railroad. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0529.html)


1765
Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"

1790
Rhode Island became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the United States Constitution.


1848
Wisconsin became the 30th state of the union.


1903
Entertainer Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, England.

1917
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was born in Brookline, Mass.

1932
World War I veterans began arriving in Washington to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive for another 13 years.


1942
Bing Crosby recorded Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" in Los Angeles for Decca Records.


1969
The self-titled debut album by Crosby, Stills and Nash was released.


1973
Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles.


1988
President Ronald Reagan began his first visit to the Soviet Union as he arrived in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.


1990
Boris N. Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian republic by the Russian parliament.


1996
Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Israeli prime minister.


1998
Former Arizona senator and Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater died at age 89.


1999
Space shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.


2001
Four followers of Osama bin Laden were convicted in New York of a global conspiracy to murder Americans, including the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people.
so you see, terrorists can be tried and jailed in US. as it stands now we have 200 terrorists housed in high security facilities and noone has ever escaped.

2004
A memorial to America's World War II veterans was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

2005
French voters soundly rejected the European Union's proposed constitution.

[Kestra]

On May 30, 1958, unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflict were buried at Arlington National Cemetery. (Go to article. (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/../onthisday/big/0530.html#article))

On May 30, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the failure of the Senate to remove President Andrew Johnson from office. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://bbs.roddenberry.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0530.html)

1431 Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
that's gratitude for ya.

1539 Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto landed in Florida.

1854 The territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

1883 A rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing triggered a stampede that led to the trampling deaths of 12 people.

1911 The Indianapolis 500 was run for the first time.

1922 The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1982 Spain became NATO's 16th member.

1982 Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles played in the first of a record 2,632 consecutive major league baseball games.

1989 Student demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing erected a 33-foot statue they called the "Goddess of Democracy."

1996 Britain's Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

1997 Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, N.J., of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka - a case that inspired "Megan's Law," which requires that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.

2002 A solemn, wordless ceremony marked the end of the cleanup at Ground Zero in New York, 8 1/2 months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

2005 American teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared on a trip to Aruba. (The case remains unsolved.)

2006 A jury in Rockville, Md., convicted John Allen Muhammad of six of the Washington-area sniper killings.

[Kestra]

On June 1, 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf most of her life, died in Westport, Conn. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0601.html#article))

On June 1, 1867, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the independence of Luxembourg. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0601.html)


1533
Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned Queen Consort of England.


1792
Kentucky became the 15th state of the union.


1796
Tennessee became the 16th state.


1801
Mormon leader Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Vt.

1813
The Navy gained its motto as the mortally wounded commander of the frigate Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, said "Don't give up the ship" during a losing battle with a British frigate.


1868
James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, died near Lancaster, Pa., at age 77.


1925
Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig's streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games began when he entered a game as a pinch hitter for the New York Yankees.


1926
Actress Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortensen in Los Angeles.


1944
The BBC broadcast a coded message to inform the French resistance that the D-Day invasion was imminent.


1958
Charles de Gaulle became premier of France.


1967
The album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles was released.


1977
The Soviet Union charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason.


1980
CNN made its debut.


2001
A suicide bomber attacked a Tel Aviv nightclub, killing 21 Israelis.


2005
Dutch voters rejected the European Union constitution.


2007
Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian was released from a Michigan prison after serving eight years for ending the life of a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.


2008
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died at age 71.

[Kestra]

On June 5, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded just after claiming victory in California's Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0605.html#article))

On June 5, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0605.html)


1723
Economist Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.


1794
Congress passed the Neutrality Act, prohibiting Americans from enlisting in the service of a foreign power.


1883
Economist John Maynard Keynes was born in Cambridge, England.


1884
Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected."


1933
The United States went off the gold standard.


1940
During the World War II Battle of France, Germany attacked French forces along the Somme line.


1947
Secretary of State George C. Marshall, speaking at HarvardUniversity, outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as the Marshall Plan.


1967
War erupted in the Middle East as Israel raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict.


1981
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five homosexuals in Los Angeles had come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the first recognized cases of what became known as AIDS.


1998
A strike at a General Motors parts factory near Detroit closed five assembly plants and idled workers nationwide; the walkout lasted seven weeks.


2002
Elizabeth Smart, 14, was kidnapped from her bedroom in her family's Salt Lake City home.


2004
Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died in Los Angeles at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.


2006
An Islamic militia with alleged links to al-Qaida seized Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, after weeks of fighting with U.S.-backed secular warlords.


2006
Serbian lawmakers proclaimed their Balkan republic a sovereign state.


2007
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation. (President George W. Bush later commuted the prison sentence.)

[Kestra]

On June 6, 1944, the D-Day invasion of Europe took place during World War II as Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0606.html#article))

On June 6, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the decimation of the buffalo in the American West. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0606.html)


1799
American orator Patrick Henry died in Charlotte County, Va.


1844
The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London.


1925
Walter Percy Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corp.


1933
The first drive-in movie theater opened, in Camden County, N.J.

1934
The Securities and Exchange Commission was established.


1966
Black activist James Meredith was shot and wounded as he walked along a Mississippi highway to encourage black voter registration.


1968
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, a day after he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.


1978
California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 13, a ballot measure calling for major cuts in property taxes.


1982
Israeli forces invaded Lebanon to drive PLO fighters out of the country.


1985
Authorities in Brazil exhumed a body later identified as that of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who conducted medical experiments on inmates at Auschwitz during World War II.


1990
A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ruled that the 2 Live Crew album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" was obscene.

2001
Democrats assumed control of the U.S. Senate when Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become an independent.


2004
Phylicia Rashad became the first African-American actress to win a Tony for a leading dramatic role for her work in a revival of "A Raisin in the Sun."


2005
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.


2007
Bob Barker ended his 35-year run as host of the CBS game show "The Price Is Right."

[Kestra]

On June 7, 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0607.html#article))

On June 7, 1873, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a controversial Congressional pay raise. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0607.html)


1654
Louis XIV was crowned king of France in Rheims.


1776
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.


1848
Postimpressionist painter Paul Gauguin was born in Paris.


1864
Abraham Lincoln was nominated for a second term as president at the Republican Party convention in Baltimore.

1892
Homer Plessy was arrested when he refused to move from a seat reserved for whites on a train in New Orleans. The case led to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark "separate but equal" decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.


1939
King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived at Niagara Falls, N.Y., from Canada on the first visit to the United States by a reigning British monarch.


1967
Author-critic Dorothy Parker died at age 73.


1972
The musical "Grease" opened on Broadway.


1981
Israeli military planes destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons.


1996
The Clinton White House acknowledged it had obtained the FBI files of prominent Republicans, calling it "an innocent bureaucratic mistake."


1998
James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old African-American man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas.

2000
A federal judge ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp.


2002
A yearlong hostage crisis in the Philippines involving three Americans came to a bloody end as Filipino commandos managed to save only one of the captives.


2003
In a national first, New Hampshire Episcopalians elected an openly gay man, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, to be bishop.


2006
The U.S. Senate rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.


2006
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by a U.S. airstrike.


2008
Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her pioneering campaign for the presidency and endorsed fellow Democrat Barack Obama.

[Kestra]

On June 8, 1968, authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0608.html#article))

On June 8, 1901, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Pan-American Exposition. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0608.html)


632
The Prophet Mohammed died in Medina.


1845
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 78.


1861
Tennessee seceded from the Union.


1915
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.


1948
The "Texaco Star Theater" made its debut on NBC-TV with Milton Berle as guest host.


1953
The Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.


1969
The New York Yankees retired Mickey Mantle's uniform No. 7 during "Mickey Mantle Day" at Yankee Stadium.


1978
A jury in Clark County, Nev., ruled the so-called "Mormon will," purportedly written by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.


1982
In the first speech by an American president to a joint session of the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan predicted that Marxism-Leninism would wind up "on the ash heap of history."


1987
Fawn Hall, secretary to national security aide Oliver L. North, testified at the Iran-Contra hearings, saying she had helped to shred some documents.


1995
U.S. Marines rescued Capt. Scott O'Grady, whose F16-C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June 2.


1998
The National Rifle Association elected actor Charlton Heston its president.


2001
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was elected to a second term in a landslide.

[Kestra]

On June 12, 1987, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, President Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to ''tear down this wall.'' (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0612.html#article))

On June 12, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the wedding of President Grover Cleveland to Frances Folsom. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0612.html)

1665
England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

1776
Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

1838
The IowaTerritory was organized.

1880
Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs pitched the first perfect game in major league history in a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Blues.

1898
Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

1937
The Soviet Union under Josef Stalin executed eight army leaders during a purge.

1939
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1963
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss.

1967
The Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages. and here we are 42 years later in the 21st century hearing the same arguments against same sex marriage as were made against inter-racial marriage.
http://sgsnow.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/same-sex-or-inter-racial-marriage-take-the-quiz/

http://www.buddybuddy.com/quiz-1.html

1971
President Richard M. Nixon's daughter Tricia and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

1978
David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six "Son of Sam" .44-caliber killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

1981
Major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation.

1994
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slashed to death outside her Los Angeles home; her former husband, football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson, was later acquitted of the killings in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil action.

1997
The Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

1999
Thousands of NATO peacekeeping troops poured into Kosovo by air and by land; in a surprising move, a Russian armored column entered Pristina before dawn to a hero's welcome from Serb residents.

2003
Actor Gregory Peck died at age 87.

2008
A deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that foreign detainees held for years at GuantanamoBay in Cuba had the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges.

[Kestra]

On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Miranda vs. Arizona decision, ruling that criminal suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights prior to questioning by police. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0613.html#article))

On June 13, 1908, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1908. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0613.html)


1886
King Ludwig II of Bavaria drowned in LakeStarnberg.


1888
Congress created the Department of Labor.


1900
China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted.


1927
Aviator Charles Lindbergh was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.


1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.


1971
The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers, a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.


1981
A teen-ager fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II during a parade in London.


1983
The U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system as it crossed the orbit of Neptune.


1986
Clarinetist Benny Goodman died at age 77.


1994
A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blamed recklessness by Exxon Corp. and Capt. Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the nation's worst oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.


1996
An 81-day standoff ended as 16 members of the anti-government Freemen group surrendered to the FBI and left their Montana ranch.


1997
A jury voted unanimously to give Timothy McVeigh the death penalty for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.


2000
Italy pardoned Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.


2004
Former President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 80th birthday with a 13,000-foot parachute jump over his presidential library in College Station, Texas.


2005
A jury in Santa Maria, Calif., acquitted singer Michael Jackson of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch.


2008
Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," died at age 58

[Kestra]

On June 14, 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0614.html#article))

On June 14, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0614.html)

1775
The United States Army was founded.

1777
The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.

1841
The first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston.

1846
A group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.

1922
Warren G. Harding became the first president heard on radio, as Baltimore station WEAR broadcast his speech dedicating the Francis Scott Key memorial at FortMcHenry.

1928
The Republican National Convention nominated Herbert Hoover for president.

1940
The Nazis opened a concentration camp at Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland.

1940
German troops entered Paris during World War II.

1943
The Supreme Court ruled schoolchildren could not be compelled to salute the flag of the United States if doing so would conflict with their religious beliefs.
:hmm: to hear the pov of some they 'turned' their backs on god.

1954
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.
yes, too ‘prove’ to the communists they were godless heathens. like adding words to a pledge proves what’s in a persons’ heart.

1985
A 17-day hijack ordeal began when a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists seized TWA Flight 847 shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece.
gee… maybe we shouUuld have bombed, invaded and occupied Iraq back then. :eyeroll:

2002
American Roman Catholic bishops meeting in Dallas adopted a policy to bar sexually abusive clergy from face-to-face contact with parishioners but keep them in the priesthood.

2007
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared an emergency after the Hamas militant group effectively took control of the Gaza Strip.

2007
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim died in Vienna, Austria, at age 88..

[Kestra]

On June 15, 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0615.html#article))

On June 15, 1907, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about airships (dirigibles). (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0615.html)

1215
King John put his seal to the Magna Carta at Runnymede, England, granting his barons more liberty.

1775
The Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army.

1836
Arkansas became the 25th state.

1844
Charles Goodyear received a patent for a process to strengthen rubber.

1846
The United States and Britain signed a treaty settling a boundary dispute between Canada and the United States in the Pacific Northwest.

1849
James Polk, the 11th president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 53.

1864
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed an order establishing a military burial ground, which became ArlingtonNationalCemetery.

1923
Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig made his major league debut with the New York Yankees.

1969
The variety show "Hee Haw" premiered on CBS.

1978
King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.

1992
Vice President Dan Quayle erroneously instructed a Trenton, N.J., elementary school student to spell potato as "potatoe" during a spelling bee.
let’s not forget his fight with the fictional character Murphy Brown.

1994
Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

1995
During his murder trial, O.J. Simpson struggled to don a pair of gloves that prosecutors said were worn by the killer of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

1996
Singer Ella Fitzgerald died at age 78.

2003
A jury in Houston convicted accounting firm Arthur Andersen of obstruction of justice.

2005
The autopsy on Terri Schiavo was released, backing the contention of her husband, Michael, that she was in a persistent vegetative state.
but I heard her recite the Gettysburg address. :eyeroll:

2006
A divided Supreme Court made it easier for police to barge into homes and seize evidence without knocking or waiting.
i feel so much safer now

2006
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said he would transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company to concentrate on the charitable work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

[Kestra]

On June 20, 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0620.html#article))

On June 20, 1885, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Navy Department. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0620.html)


1791
King Louis XVI of France attempted to flee the country in the so-called Flight to Varennes, but was caught.


1837
Queen Victoria ascended the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.


1863
West Virginia became the 35th state.


1893
A jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.


1943
Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit.


1947
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was shot dead in Beverly Hills, Calif., apparently at the order of mob associates.


1948
The TV variety series "Toast of the Town" hosted by Ed Sullivan debuted on CBS.


1963
The United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a hot line communication link between the two superpowers.


1975
The movie "Jaws" was released.


1979
ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza's national guard.


1994
O.J. Simpson pleaded innocent in Los Angeles to the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman.


1997
The tobacco industry agreed to a massive settlement in exchange for relief from mounting lawsuits and legal bills.


1999
As the last of 40,000 Yugoslav troops left Kosovo, NATO declared a formal end to its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.


2001
Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub in her family's home in Houston. (She was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state hospital.)


2002
The U.S. Supreme Court declared that executing mentally retarded murderers was unconstitutionally cruel.


2007
President George W. Bush vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill for the second time.


2007
Sammy Sosa of the Texas Rangers became the fifth major leaguer to hit 600 career home runs.

[Kestra]

On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. Eight members of the Ku Klux Klan went to prison on federal conspiracy charges; none served more than six years. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0621.html#article))

On June 21, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0621.html)


1788
The U.S. Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

1834
Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.


1905
Philosopher, author and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris.


1932
After heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling lost a title fight by decision to Jack Sharkey, Schmeling's manager, Joe Jacobs, exclaimed: "We was robbed!"

1963
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church. The new pope took the name Paul VI.

1964
Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets.


1973
The Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.


1977
Menachem Begin became Israel's sixth prime minister.

1982
A jury in Washington, D.C., found John Hinckley Jr. innocent by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three others.


1985
Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.


1989
The Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment.


1997
The Women's National Basketball Association made its debut.


2001
A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the KhobarTowers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
you see, terrorists can be successfully tried and convicted in US courts. and none of them has ever escaped imprisonment.

2004
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland resigned amid graft allegations and a federal investigation.


2005
Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss., 41 years to the day earlier. (He is serving a 60-year prison sentence.)

[Kestra]

On June 23, 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0623.html#article))

On June 23, 1877, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about political repression during a government crisis in France. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0623.html)


1868
Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer."


1892
The Democratic convention in Chicago nominated former President Grover Cleveland on the first ballot.


1923
Choreographer-director Bob Fosse was born in Chicago.


1931
Aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.


1956
Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.


1967
The Senate voted to censure Democrat Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut for using campaign money for personal uses.


1969
Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States.


1972
President Richard Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation.


1985
All 329 people aboard an Air-India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, apparently because of a bomb.


1992
John Gotti, convicted of racketeering charges, was sentenced in New York to life in prison.


1993
Lorena Bobbitt of Prince William County, Va., sexually mutilated her husband, John, after he allegedly raped her.


1995
Dr. Jonas Salk, the medical pioneer who developed the first vaccine against polio, died at age 80.


2005
Former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 Mississippi slayings of three civil rights workers.

[Kestra]

On June 24, 1997, the Air Force released a report on the so-called "Roswell Incident," suggesting the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0624.html#article)) :eyeroll:

On June 24, 1905, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about President Theodore Roosevelt's mediation to end the Russo-Japanese War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0624.html)


1314
The forces of Scotland's King Robert I defeated the English in the Battle of Bannockburn.


1497
The first recorded sighting of North America by a European took place as explorer John Cabot, on a voyage for England, spotted land, probably in present-day Canada.


1509
Henry VIII was crowned king of England.


1793
The first republican constitution in France was adopted.


1908
Former President Grover Cleveland died in Princeton, N.J., at age 71.


1940
France signed an armistice with Italy during World War II.


1948
Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the United States to organize a massive airlift.


1975
An Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashed while attempting to land during a thunderstorm at New York's JohnF.KennedyInternationalAirport, killing 113 people.


1987
Actor Jackie Gleason died at age 71.


1998
AT&T Corp. struck a deal to buy cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.7 billion.

2003
President Vladimir Putin arrived in London on the first state visit to Britain by a Russian leader since the 19th century.


2004
Federal investigators questioned President George W. Bush for more than an hour in connection with the news leak of a CIA operative's name.


2006
Patsy Ramsey, who was thrust into the national spotlight by the unsolved slaying of her daughter JonBenet, died at age 49.

[Kestra]

On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0625.html#article))

On June 25, 1887, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the influential veterans' organization, the Grand Army of the Republic. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0625.html)

1788
Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution.

1868
Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were readmitted to the Union.

1950
War broke out on the Korean peninsula as forces from the communist North invaded the South.


1951
The first commercial color telecast took place as CBS transmitted a one-hour special from New York to four other cities.


1962
The Supreme Court ruled that the use of an unofficial, nondenominational prayer in New York public schools was unconstitutional.


1967
The Beatles performed a new song, "All You Need Is Love," during a live international telecast.


1973
Former White House Counsel John Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee.

1987
Pope John Paul II received Austrian President Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican, a meeting fraught with controversy because of allegations that Waldheim had hidden a Nazi past.


1991
The Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence.


1995
Warren E. Burger, the 15th chief justice of the United States, died at age 87.


1996
A truck bomb killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds at a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.

1997
Oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau died at age 87.


1997
An unmanned cargo ship crashed into Russia's Mir space station, knocking out half of the station's power and rupturing a pressurized laboratory.


1998
The Supreme Court rejected a line-item veto law as unconstitutional.


2005
Hardline Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential runoff election.

[Kestra]

On June 26, 1963, President Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he made his famous declaration: "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner). (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0626.html#article))

On June 26, 1909, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the battle of the sexes over a game of golf. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0626.html)


1870
The first section of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J., was opened to the public.


1894
The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, called a general strike in sympathy with Pullman workers.


1917
The first troops of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France during World War I.


1919
The New York Daily News was first published.


1925
Charlie Chaplin's comedy "The Gold Rush" premiered in Hollywood.


1945
The charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.


1948
The Berlin Airlift began in earnest as the United States, Britain and France began ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes.


1950
President Harry S. Truman authorized the Air Force and Navy to enter the Korean conflict.

1973
Former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an "enemies list" kept by the Nixon White House.


1990
President George H.W. Bush, who had campaigned for office on a pledge of "no new taxes," :liar3: 'read my lips, feel my hips' conceded that tax increases would have to be included in any deficit-reduction package.


1993
President Bill Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of "compelling evidence" Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush.
shrubs excuse for bombing, invading and occupying Iraq. “he tried to kill my dad.”

1996
The Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute to admit women or forgo state support
.
1998
The Supreme Court ruled that employers can be held responsible for supervisors' misconduct even if they knew nothing about it.

2000
Rival scientific teams completed the first rough map of the human genetic code.


2003
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, struck down state bans on gay sex.


2003
Strom Thurmond, the second longest-serving senator in U.S. history, died in Edgefield, S.C., at age 100.


2003
Sir Denis Thatcher, husband of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, died at age 88.


2008
The Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia as it affirmed, 5-4, an individual right to gun ownership.

[Kestra]

On June 27, 1950, President Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the Korean War following a call from the United Nations Security Council for member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0627.html#article))

On June 27, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the black voting rights and the presidential election of 1868. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0627.html)

1844
Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill.

1846
New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires.


1893
The New York stock market crashed.


1942
The FBI announced the capture of eight Nazi saboteurs who had been put ashore from a submarine on New York's Long Island.


1944
American forces completed their capture of the French port of Cherbourg from the Germans three weeks after D-Day.


1957
More than 500 people were killed when Hurricane Audrey slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.


1969
Patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, clashed with police in an incident considered to be the birth of the gay rights movement.


1977
Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.


1980
President Jimmy Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration.


1985
Route 66, which originally stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif., passed into history as officials decertified the road.


2001
Actor Jack Lemmon died at age 76.


2003
More than 735,000 phone numbers were registered on the first day of a national do-not-call list aimed at blocking unwelcome solicitations from telemarketers.


2005
BTK serial killer Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to 10 murders that spread fear across Wichita, Kan., beginning in the 1970s. (Rader later received multiple life sentences.)


2007
Gordon Brown became British prime minister, succeeding Tony Blair.


2008
North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program, the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor at Yongbyon (bad kitty) only to announce in September that it would restore its nuclear facilities.

[Kestra]

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending World War I. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0628.html#article))

On June 28, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0628.html)


1836
James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, died in Montpelier, Va., at age 85.


1838
Britain's Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.


1894
Labor Day was established as a holiday for federal employees on the first Monday of September.


1902
Broadway composer Richard Rodgers was born in New York City.


1914
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist. The event triggered World War I.


1919
Harry S. Truman married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace in Independence, Mo.

1950
North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea.


1967
Israel declared Jerusalem reunified under its sovereignty following its capture of the Arab sector in the Six-Day War.

1967
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.


1978
The Supreme Court ordered the medical school at the University of California at Davis to admit a white man who argued he had been a victim of reverse discrimination.


1995
Webster Hubbell, the former No. 3 official at the Justice Department, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for bilking clients of the law firm where he and Hillary Rodham Clinton were partners.


1996
The Citadel voted to admit women, ending a 153-year-old men-only policy at the South Carolina military school.


1997
Mike Tyson was disqualified for biting Evander Holyfield's ear during their WBA heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas.


2000
Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba seven months after he was cast adrift in the Florida Straits.


2000
The Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders.


2004
The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government two days ahead of schedule.


2004
The United States resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break.


2007
The American bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list.


2008
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels without getting a hit, only the fifth time that's been done in modern major league baseball history. (The only run of the game was scored when Matt Kemp reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly.)

[Kestra]

On June 29, 1995, the shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0629.html#article))

On June 29, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Kentucky's neutrality during the early months of the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0629.html)


1776
The Virginia state constitution was adopted.


1946
British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to stamp out alleged terrorism.


1951
Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was ordained as a priest.


1967
Actress Jayne Mansfield, 34, and two male companions died when their car struck a trailer truck east of New Orleans.


1972
The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment."


1992
A divided Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, but the justices also weakened the right as defined by the Roe v. Wade decision.


2001
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was elected to a second term.


2002
President George W. Bush transferred presidential powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours during a routine colon screening that ended in a clean bill of health.


2003
Actress Katharine Hepburn died at age 96.


2004
Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the fourth pitcher in major league history to record 4,000 career strikeouts.


2006
The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that President George W. Bush's plan to try GuantanamoBay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.


2007
The first Apple iPhones went on sale.


2008
Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate.

[Kestra]

On July 4, 1976, the United States celebrated its Bicentential. In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0704.html#article))

On July 4, 1900, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Democratic National Convention of 1900. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0704.html)


1776
The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.


1802
The U.S. Military Academy opened at West Point, N.Y.

1804
Author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Mass.

1826
Death claimed the second and third presidents of the United States: John Adams died at age 90 in Braintree, Mass., while Thomas Jefferson died at 83 at Monticello, his home near Charlottesville, Va.

1826
Songwriter Stephen Foster was born in present-day Pittsburgh.


1831
James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, died at age 73 in New York City.


1845
American writer Henry David Thoreau began a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond near Concord, Mass.

1872
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, was born in Plymouth, Vt.

1939
Baseball player Lou Gehrig, afflicted with a fatal illness, bid a tearful farewell at Yankee Stadium in New York, telling fans, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."


1946
The Philippines became independent.


1958
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed auxilliary bishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Pius XII.


1959
A 49th star was added to the American flag to represent the new state of Alaska.


1960
The number of stars on the American flag was increased to 50 to honor the new state of Hawaii.


1966
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law.


1976
Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.


1987
Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the "Butcher of Lyon," was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.


2004
The cornerstone of the FreedomTower was laid at the WorldTradeCenter site.


2008
Former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., died at age 86.

[Kestra]

On July 5, 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0705.html#article))

On July 5, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0705.html)


1811
Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.


1830
The French occupied the North African city of Algiers.


1865
William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London.


1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, which allowed labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.


1940
Britain and the Vichy government in France broke diplomatic relations.


1946
The bikini made its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.


1948
Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.

1954
Elvis Presley's first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn.

1975
The Cape VerdeIslands officially became independent after 500 years of Portuguese rule.


1989
Former National Security Council aide Oliver North received a $150,000 fine and a suspended prison term for his part in Iran-Contra. The convictions were later overturned.


1991
Regulators in eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, charging it with fraud, drug money laundering and illegal infiltration into the U.S. banking system.


1997
Martina Hingis, 16, became the youngest Wimbledom singles champion in 110 years as she beat Jana Novotna in the women's final.


2002
Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams died at age 83.


2006
North Korea test-fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, including at least one believed capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.


2006
Enron founder Kenneth Lay, who was facing decades in prison for one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died of heart disease at age 64.

[Kestra]

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0706.html#article))

On July 6, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Senator Charles Sumner, civil rights for black Americans, and the presidential election of 1872. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0706.html)


1483
England's King Richard III was crowned.


1535
Sir Thomas More was executed in England for treason.


1777
British forces captured FortTiconderoga during the American Revolution.


1835
John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, died at age 79.


1854
The first official meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Mich.

1917
Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks during World War I.


1923
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.


1928
The first all-talking movie feature, "The Lights of New York," was shown in New York.


1933
Baseball's first All-Star game was held as the American League beat the National League 4-2 at Chicago's ComiskeyPark.


1944
Fire broke out in the main tent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn., killing 169 people.


1957
Althea Gibson became the first African-American tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.


1974
Garrison Keillor's radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion," debuted in a live broadcast from St. Paul, Minn.

1989
The U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing 1-A missiles.


1997
The rover Sojourner rolled down a ramp from the Mars Pathfinder lander onto the Martian landscape to begin inspecting soil and rocks.


1998
Singing cowboy star Roy Rogers died at age 86.


2003
Liberian leader Charles Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria.


2004
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry chose former rival Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina to be his running mate.


2005
New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of an undercover CIA operative's name. (She was jailed for 85 days before agreeing to testify.)

[Kestra]

On July 10, 1940, during World War II, the 114-day Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air. By late October, Britain managed to repel the Luftwaffe, which suffered heavy losses. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0710.html#article))

On July 10, 1875, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about two competing Democratic factions in New York City. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0710.html)


1832
President Andrew Jackson vetoed legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.


1850
Vice President Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency following the death of Zachary Taylor.


1890
Wyoming became the 44th state.


1919
President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate and urged its ratification.


1943
U.S. and British forces invaded Sicily during World War II.


1951
Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean War began at Kaesong.


1962
The Telstar communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1964
The album "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles was released.


1973
The Bahamas became independent after three centuries of British colonial rule.
’we are nawt amuzed’ :king:

1979
Conductor Arthur Fiedler, who had led the Boston Pops orchestra for half a century, died at age 84.


1985
Coca-Cola Co., bowing to pressure from irate customers after the introduction of New Coke, said it would resume selling its old formula.

1989
Mel Blanc, who supplied the voices for cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, died at age 81.
th- th- th- that’s all folks.

1991
Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic.


1991
President George H.W. Bush lifted economic sanctions against South Africa, citing its "profound transformation" toward racial equality.


1992
A federal judge in Miami sentenced former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to 40 years in prison on drug and racketeering charges.


1995
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was freed after nearly six years of house arrest in Yangon, Myanmar.


1997
Scientists in London said DNA from a Neanderthal skeleton supported a theory that humans descended from an "African Eve" 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.


1999
The U.S. women's soccer team won the World Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

2006
A section of ceiling in Boston's Big Dig tunnel collapsed, killing a car passenger.


2006
Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev was killed when a dynamite-laden truck in his convoy exploded.

[Kestra]

On July 11, 1979, the abandoned United States space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0711.html#article))

On July 11, 1908, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the rise of New York City's skyscrapers. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0711.html)


1533
Pope Clement VII excommunicated England's King Henry VIII.


1767
John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Mass.

1798
The U.S. Marine Corps was created by an act of Congress.


1804
Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel near Weehawken, N.J.

1914
Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth made his major league debut as a pitcher for the Red Sox at FenwayPark in Boston.


1952
The Republican National Convention, meeting in Chicago, nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower for president and Richard M. Nixon for vice president.


1955
The Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base in Colorado.


1977
The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony.


1989
Actor Laurence Olivier died at age 82.


1995
The United States normalized relations with Vietnam.


2006
Eight bombs hit the commuter rail network during evening rush hour in Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.


2007
Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson died in Austin, Texas, at age 94.


2008
IndyMac Bank's assets were seized by federal regulators.

[Kestra]

On July 12, 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale named New York Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro his running mate, making her the first woman to run on a major party ticket. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0712.html#article))

On July 12, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about General Benjamin Butler's controversial "Woman Order" in Union-occupied New Orleans. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0712.html)


100 B.C.
Julius Caesar was born in Rome.


1543
England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.


1690
Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.


1817
Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.

1854
George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera, was born in Waterville, N.Y.

1862
Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.


1895
Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was born in New York City.


1908
Comedian Milton Berle was born Mendel Berlinger in New York City.


1972
George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Miami Beach.


1974
John Ehrlichman, a former aide to President Richard Nixon, and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg's former psychiatrist.


1990
Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party.


1993
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck northern Japan, killing 196 people.


1998
Three young brothers who had been asleep in their beds burned to death in a sectarian attack in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.


2001
Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured in a New York City police station, agreed to an $8.7 million settlement.


2003
The USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Va.

2005
Prince Albert II of Monaco acceded to the throne.


2006
Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid; Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon in response.


2008
Former White House press secretary Tony Snow died at age 53.

[Kestra]

On July 13, 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0713.html#article))

On July 13, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the prospects for a quick victory in the American Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0713.html)


1793
French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who was executed four days later.


1863
Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days.


1960
John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Los Angeles.


1967
Race-related rioting broke out in Newark, N.J.; 27 people died in four days of violence.


1978
Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co.


1985
Live Aid, a concert to raise money for Africa's starving people, was held in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, Australia.

1985
The Constitution's presidential disability clause was invoked for the first time as President Ronald Reagan transferred power temporarily to Vice President George H.W. Bush before undergoing surgery for colon cancer.


1998
A jury in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ruled that the Rev. Al Sharpton and two others had defamed a former prosecutor by accusing him of raping Tawana Brawley.


2005
Former WorldCom Inc. boss Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison for leading the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history.


2007
Former media mogul Conrad Black was convicted of swindling the newspaper empire he once ran out of millions of dollars. (He is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.)

[Kestra]

On July 17, 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0717.html#article))

On July 17, 1875, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about William Tweed's jailbreak. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0717.html)


1821
Spain ceded Florida to the United States.


1898
Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War.


1900
Hall of fame pitcher Christy Mathewson made his major league debut with the New York Giants.


1917
With the country at war with Germany, the British royal family changed its name from the German Saxe-Coburg Gotha to Windsor.


1945
President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.


1948
Southern Democrats opposed to the party's position on civil rights met in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.


1955
Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.

1959
Jazz singer Billie Holiday died at age 44.


1961
Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb died at age 74.


1967
Jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died at age 40.


1979
Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled into exile in Miami.


1981
A pair of walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a dance, killing 114 people.


1996
TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded and crashed off Long Island, N.Y., shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.


1997
Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores, laying off 9,200 employees.


2000
Bashar Assad, son of Hafez Assad, became Syria's 16th head of state.


2007
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., on charges related to competitive dogfighting.

[Kestra]

On July 18, 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in North Africa. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0718.html#article))

On July 18, 1908, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1908. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0718.html)


1536
The authority of the pope was declared void in England.


1872
Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot.


1927
Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb got his 4,000th career hit.


1940
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term in office.


1969
A car driven by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged off a bridge on ChappaquiddickIsland near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died.


1984
A gunman opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.


1984
Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.


1989
Actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. The killing prompted California in 1990 to pass the nation's first anti-stalking law.


1998
A 23-foot tsunami along the coast of Papua New Guinea killed nearly 3,000 people.


1999
David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 14th perfect game in modern major league baseball history in a game against the Montreal Expos.


2003
Basketball star Kobe Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a Colorado spa. (The charge was later dropped because the woman did not want to go ahead with a trial.)


2003
The body of British scientist David Kelly, a weapons expert at the center of a storm over British intelligence on Iraq, was found, an apparent suicide.


2005
An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Ala., to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.


2005
Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, died at age 91.

[Kestra]

"I believe [cap-and-trade] is an enormous threat to our economy."
-- Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), 7/14/09 (http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=24308&elq=3AD7ECB3B88D4A84AEF6721CEDA400CD)

VERSUS

Q: Do you support capping carbon emissions?
PALIN: I do. I do.
-- Palin, 10/03/08 (http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=10574&elq=3AD7ECB3B88D4A84AEF6721CEDA400CD)

some ppl just don't pay attention to what they're saying.

[Kestra]

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0720.html#article))

On July 20, 1907, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about British appreciation for Mark Twain's social commentary. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0720.html)


1810
Colombia declared independence from Spain.


1861
The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va.

1871
British Columbia joined the confederation as a Canadian province.


1881
Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.


1917
The World War I draft lottery began.


1942
The first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.


1944
Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.


1944
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.


1976
America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft landed on Mars.


1977
A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing 80 people and causing $350 million in damage.


1990
A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions.


1993
White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C., in an apparent suicide.


1999
After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.


2004
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel tear down the barrier it was building to seal off the West Bank.


2007
President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.

[Kestra]

On July 24, 1959, during a visit to the Soviet Union, Vice President Richard M. Nixon got into a discussion at a U.S. exhibition with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was dubbed the ''kitchen debate.'' (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0724.html#article))

On July 24, 1875, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about an international rifle competition. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0724.html)


1783
Revolutionary Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela.


1847
Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah.


1862
Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, died in Kinderhook, N.Y., at age 79.


1866
Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.


1923
The Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland.


1929
President Herbert Hoover proclaimed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy.


1937
The state of Alabama dropped charges against five black men accused of raping two white women in the Scottsboro case.


1969
Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, splashed down safely in the Pacific.


1974
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Richard M. Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.


1979
A Miami jury convicted Ted Bundy of first-degree murder in the slayings of two FloridaStateUniversity sorority sisters.


1990
Iraq massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along its border with Kuwait.


1997
Retired Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan died at age 91.


1998
A gunman opened fire in the U.S. Capitol, killing two police officers before being shot and captured.


2002
The U.S. House expelled Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who had been convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.


2005
Lance Armstrong won a seventh consecutive Tour de France.


2008
Ford Motor Co. posted the worst quarterly performance in its history, losing $8.67 billion.


2008
Cheered by an enormous crowd in Berlin, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they had conquered communism a generation ago.

[Kestra]

On July 25, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the closing of the Freedmen's Bureau. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0725.html)

On July 25, 1868, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the closing of the Freedmen's Bureau. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0725.html)


1593
France's King Henry IV converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.


1866
Ulysses S. Grant was named general of the Army, the first officer to hold the rank.


1868
Congress passed an act creating the WyomingTerritory.


1946
The United States detonated an atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.


1952
Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.


1965
Bob Dylan shocked his fans at the Newport Folk Festival when he played electric guitar during a performance with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.


1975
The musical "A Chorus Line" opened on Broadway.


1978
The first baby conceived by in-vitro fertilization was born in Oldham, England.


1984
Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space.


1994
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries' 46-year state of war.


1995
A U.N. war crimes tribunal indicted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, and 22 other Serbs for war crimes.


1997
K.R. Narayanan became the first member of an "untouchable" Dalits caste to become India's president.


2000
Texas Gov. George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney to be his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.


2009
California became the first state to ban trans fats from restaurant food.

[Kestra]

On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0726.html#article))

On July 26, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0726.html)


1788
New York became the 11th state to ratify the Constitution.


1856
Playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland.


1945
Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labor Party. Clement Attlee became the new prime minister.


1948
President Harry S. Truman signed executive orders prohibiting discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment.


1952
Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.


1952
Argentina's first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33.


1953
Fidel Castro began a revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba.


1956
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.


1964
Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund.


1971
Apollo 15 was launched on a manned mission to the moon.


1990
The House of Representatives reprimanded Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for ethics violations.


1990
President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.


1990
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman – later identified as Kimberly Bergalis – had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.


2000
A federal judge approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.


2005
Greg Maddux of the Chicago Cubs became the 13th pitcher in major league history to record his 3,000th career strikeout, in a game against the San Francisco Giants.


2006
A jury in Houston found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning of her children in a bathtub in the second trial she faced on the charges; she was committed to a state mental hospital.

[Kestra]

On July 27, 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0727.html#article))

On July 27, 1878, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about an international rowing competition. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0727.html)


1694
The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.


1789
Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of the State Department.


1794
French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest; he was executed the following day.


1861
Union Gen. George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac.


1866
After two failures, Cyrus W. Field succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.


1940
Bugs Bunny made his debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."


1960
Vice President Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.


1967
In the wake of urban rioting, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence.


1974
The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend President Richard M. Nixon's impeachment on a charge that he had personally engaged in a "course of conduct" designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.


1980
The deposed Shah of Iran died in Egypt at age 60.


1995
The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1996
A pipe bomb exploded at a public park during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and injuring more than 100.


2003
Comedian Bob Hope died at age 100.


2003
Lance Armstrong won a record-tying fifth straight Tour de France title.


2005
Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who'd plotted to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium, was sentenced to 22 years in prison by a judge in Seattle.


2008
A gunman went on a rampage at a church in Knoxville, Tenn., killing two people and wounding six. (Jim D. Adkisson later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

[Kestra]

On July 31, 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0731.html#article))

On July 31, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0731.html)


1556
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers, died in Rome.


1777
The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.


1875
Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66.


1914
The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading didn't resume until December.)


1919
Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted.


1948
President Harry S. Truman helped dedicate New YorkInternationalAirport (later JohnF.KennedyInternationalAirport) at Idlewild Field.


1953
Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," died at age 63.


1972
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.


1977
The "Son of Sam" killer claimed his last victims when he shot and killed Stacy Moskowitz, 20, and seriously wounded her date as they sat in a parked car in Brooklyn, N.Y. (David Berkowitz was arrested less than two weeks later. He is serving six sentences of 25 years to life.)


1981
A seven-week strike by major league baseball players ended.


1989
A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape purportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins.


1990
Nolan Ryan became the 20th major league pitcher to win 300 games as his Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.


1991
President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.


1995
The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal.


1997
New York City police seized five bombs believed bound for terrorist attacks on subways.


2002
A bomb exploded inside a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine people, including five Americans.


2007
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.


2008
Scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil.

[Kestra]

On August 1, 1936, 100,000 saluted Adolf Hitler on his entrance at the opening of the Berlin Olympics. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0801.html#article))

On August 1, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Draft Riot in New York City. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0801.html)


1790
The first U.S. census was completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people.


1876
Colorado was admitted to the union as the 38th state.


1914
Germany declared war on Russia at the onset of World War I.

1942
Rock musician Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was born in San Francisco.


1943
Race-related rioting erupted in New York City's Harlem section, resulting in several deaths.


1944
An uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation.


1957
The United States and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).


1966
Charles Joseph Whitman shot and killed 14 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned down by police.


1978
Pete Rose's 44-game hitting streak -- the second longest in major league history -- came to an end as the Cincinnati Reds star went hitless in a game against the Atlanta Braves.


1981
The music video cable channel MTV made its debut.


1988
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally syndicated radio program.


1995
Westinghouse Electric Corp. struck a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion.


2004
Alexandra Scott, a young cancer patient who started a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research, sparking a nationwide fund-raising campaign, died at her home in Wynnewood, Pa., at age 8.


2005
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia died. His half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, became the country's new monarch.


2005
President George W. Bush used a recess appointment to install John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, bypassing the Senate after a testy standoff with Democrats.


2005
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days following a positive test for steroids.


2007
The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour, killing 13 people.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 2, 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco. Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office as President of the United States. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0802.html#article))

On August 2, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0802.html)


1776
Members of the Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.


1876
Frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, S.D.


1907
Baseball Hall of Famer Walter Johnson made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.

1921
Opera singer Enrico Caruso died in Naples, Italy
.
1921
A jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox and two others of conspiring to defraud the public by throwing the World Series.


1934
German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.


1939
Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.


1943
PT-109, a Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.


1945
President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference.


1964
The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.


1979
New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died in the crash of his private plane in Canton, Ohio.


1985
A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-FortWorthInternationalAirport, killing 137 people.


1990
Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate.


2000
Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia.


2003
Liberian President Charles Taylor agreed to cede power.


2007
Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 3, 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0803.html#article))

On August 3, 1878, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about famed agnostic Robert Ingersoll. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0803.html)


1492
Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on a voyage that would take him to the present-day Americas.


1778
The opera house La Scala opened in Milan, Italy, with a performance of Antonio Salieri's "Europa riconosciuta."


1852
America's first intercollegiate athletic event was held as Yale and Harvard met for a crew race on Lake Winnipesaukee in Center Harbor, N.H.

1914
Germany declared war on France.


1914
At the outbreak of World War I, British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey remarked: "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."


1923
Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, one day after President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack.


1943
Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice.


1948
Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, publicly accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied.


1949
The National Basketball Association was formed.


1981
U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan that they would be fired.


1987
The Iran-Contra congressional hearings ended with none of the 29 witnesses tying President Ronald Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales profits to Nicaraguan rebels.


1993
The Senate voted 96-3 to confirm Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.


1994
Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.


2003
Golfer Annika Sorenstam completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Women's British Open.


2004
The Statue of Liberty pedestal in New York City reopened to the public for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.


2007
A jury at Camp Pendleton, Calif., sentenced Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III to 15 years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a fruitless search for an insurgent.


2008
Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn died at age 89.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 4, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany while the United States proclaimed its neutrality. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0804.html#article))

On August 4, 1866, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Seven Weeks' (or Austro-Prussian) War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0804.html)


1735
A jury acquitted John Peter Zenger of the New York Weekly Journal of seditious libel.


1790
The Coast Guard had its beginnings as the Revenue Cutter Service.


1792
Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Field Place, England.


1830
Plans for the city of Chicago were laid out.


1892
Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, though she was later acquitted.


1916
The United States reached agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million.


1929
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was born Rahman Abdel-Raouf Arafat Al-Qudwa in either Cairo or Gaza.


1944
Anne Frank, 15, was arrested along with her sister, parents and four other people, after they had spent two years hiding from the Nazis in a building in Amsterdam. Her diary became a famous account of the Holocaust.


1964
The bodies of three missing civil rights workers were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.


1977
President Jimmy Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy.


1987
The Federal Communications Commission voted to rescind the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and TV stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues.


1994
Serb-dominated Yugoslavia withdrew its support for Bosnian Serbs, sealing the 300-mile border between Yugoslavia and Serb-held Bosnia.


2002
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in northern Israel during rush hour, killing nine passengers.

2005
A mini-submarine carrying seven Russians became caught on an underwater antenna 600 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean; the men were rescued three days later with help from a British vessel.


2007
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants tied Hank Aaron's 755 career home runs in a 3-2 loss to the Padres in San Diego.


2007
Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees became at age 32 the youngest player in major league history to hit his 500th career home run, during a home game against Kansas City.

[Kestra]

On August 5, 1963 the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0805.html#article)) and then came :king: gigglesnot

On August 5, 1882, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the gubernatorial campaign of Alexander Stephens, the former Confederate vice president. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0805.html)


1861
The federal government levied an income tax for the first time.


1864
Union Adm. David G. Farragut is said to have given his famous order "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" as he led his fleet against Mobile Bay, Ala., during the Civil War.


1884
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New YorkHarbor.


1924
The comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray made its debut.


1957
"American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark, made its network TV debut on ABC.


1962
Actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home at age 36. Her death was ruled a probable suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills.


1966
The album "Revolver" by the Beatles was released.


1969
The U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data.


1981
The federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone on strike.


1992
Federal civil rights charges were filed against four Los Angeles police officers acquitted of state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King; two were later convicted.


2001
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban jailed eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, for allegedly preaching Christianity.


2002
The coral-encrusted gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was raised from the floor of the Atlantic.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, that instantly killed an estimated 66,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0806.html#article))

On August 6, 1904, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the 1904 presidential campaign. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0806.html)


1787
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate a draft of the U.S. Constitution.


1806
The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis I abdicated.


1825
Bolivia declared its independence from Peru.


1890
Convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York.


1890
Hall of fame pitcher Cy Young made his major league debut with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League.


1914
Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia, and Serbia declared war against Germany at the outbreak of World War I.


1926
Warner Brothers premiered its "Vitaphone" sound-on-disc movie system in New York.


1926
Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American woman to swim the English Channel.


1962
Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.


1965
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.


1965
The album "Help!" by the Beatles was released.


1978
Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo in Italy at age 80.


1984
The album "Purple Rain" by the Prince was released.


1997
British Prime Minister Tony Blair shook hands with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in the first meeting in 76 years between a British leader and the IRA's allies.


1998
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with President Bill Clinton.


1998
A House committee voted to cite Attorney General Janet Reno for contempt of Congress for her refusal to turn over reports recommending that she seek an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising.


2007
The Crandall Canyon Mine in central Utah collapsed, trapping six coal miners. (All six miners died, along with three rescuers.)


2008
The government declared that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was solely responsible for the anthrax attacks that killed five and rattled the nation in 2001. (Ivins had committed suicide on July 29.)


2008
A U.S. military jury convicted Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, of supporting terrorism in the first war crimes trial at GuantanamoBay.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on United States forces. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0807.html#article))

On August 7, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about federal taxes. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0807.html)


1789
The War Department was established by Congress.


1912
The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.


1942
U.S. forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.


1947
The balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago.


1957
Oliver Hardy of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy died at age 65.


1959
The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of the Earth.


1971
Apollo 15 returned to Earth after a manned mission to the moon.


1974
French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's WorldTradeCenter.


1990
President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.


1998
Al Qaeda set off bombs at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people - including 12 Americans - and injuring more than 5,500.


2000
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore chose Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, making him the first Jewish candidate on a major party ticket.


2004
Greg Maddux became the 22nd pitcher in major league history to reach 300 victories as he led the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 victory over San Francisco.


2005
ABC anchorman Peter Jennings died at age 67.


2007
Barry Bonds became baseball's career home run leader when he hit No. 756 during a home game in San Francisco, passing Hank Aaron's mark.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 11, 1965, deadly rioting and looting broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0811.html#article))

On August 11, 1900, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential nomination of William Jennings Bryan. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0811.html)


1909
The SOS distress signal was first used by an American ship, the Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

1934
The first federal prisoners arrived at the island prison Alcatraz in San FranciscoBay.


1954
A formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and the Communist Vietminh.


1956
Abstract artist Jackson Pollock died in an automobile accident in East Hampton, N.Y., at age 44.


1984
President Ronald Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had "signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."


1992
The Mall of America, the biggest shopping mall in the country, opened in Bloomington, Minn.

1997
President Bill Clinton made the first use of the line-item veto approved by Congress, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills. (The Supreme Court later struck down the line-item veto as unconstitutional.)


1998
British Petroleum purchased Amoco for $49 billion.


2000
Pat Buchanan won the Reform Party presidential nomination in a victory bitterly disputed by party founder Ross Perot's supporters, who chose their own nominee in a rival convention.


2002
US Airways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.


2003
NATO took command of the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.


2003
Charles Taylor resigned as Liberia's president and went into exile in Nigeria.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 12, 1898, the peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0812.html#article))

On August 12, 1876, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a race riot in Hamburg, South Carolina. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0812.html)


1851
Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.


1880
Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pa.

1898
Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States.


1944
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed when an explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England during World War II.


1953
The Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

1960
The first balloon satellite, Echo 1, was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1966
John Lennon apologized at a news conference in Chicago for saying "the Beatles are more popular than Jesus."
hey, he was right.


1977
The space shuttle Enterprise passed its first solo flight test by taking off atop a Boeing 747, separating and then touching down in California's Mojave Desert.


1985
A crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people.


1998
Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets.


2000
The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea.


2004
New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation and proclaimed himself "a gay American."


2004
The California Supreme Court voided the nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in San Francisco earlier in the year.
perhaps they should void everyone’s marriages.


2007
A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church, killing a pastor and two worshippers. (Eiken Elam Saimon was sentenced to three life sentences without parole.)


2007
Crooner, talk show host and game show producer Merv Griffin died at age 82.


2008
Declaring "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia -- five days of air and ground attacks that had left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 13, 1961, Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city's eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0813.html#article))

On August 13, 1898, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about disease and the Spanish-American War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0813.html)


1521
Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztecs.


1704
The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.


1899
Movie director Alfred Hitchcock was born in London.


1932
Adolf Hitler rejected the post of vice-chancellor of Germany, saying he was prepared to hold out "for all or nothing."


1934
The comic strip "Li'l Abner" by Al Capp made its debut.


1942
Walt Disney's animated feature "Bambi" premiered at RadioCityMusic Hall in New York.


1960
The first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo 1, a balloon satellite.


1981
President Ronald Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions.


1995
Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died of liver cancer at age 63.


2003
Libya agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing.


2004
The 28th summer Olympic games opened in Athens.


2007
President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove, announced his resignation.


2007
Philanthropist Brooke Astor died at age 105.


2007
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto died at age 89.


2008
American Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 15, 1947, India and Pakistan became independent after some 200 years of British rule. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0815.html#article))

On August 15, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the treatment of black prisoners of war during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0815.html)


1057
Macbeth, the King of Scotland, was slain by the son of King Duncan.


1769
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica.


1935
Humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska.


1939
"The Wizard of Oz" premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.


1944
Allied forces landed in southern France during World War II.


1945
The Allies proclaimed V-J Day, one day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally.


1948
The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was proclaimed.


1969
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.


1971
President Richard M. Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.


1998
A car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 29 people and injured 370. It was the single deadliest act of violence in 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.


2000
One hundred people from North Korea arrived in South Korea for temporary reunions with relatives they had not seen for half a century; 100 South Koreans visited the North.


2001
Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own - two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.


2006
Israel began withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon.


2007
A magnitude-8 earthquake in Peru's southern desert killed at least 540 people.


2008
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili grudgingly signed a U.S.-backed truce with Russia, even as he denounced the Russians as invading barbarians and accused the West of all but encouraging them to overrun his country.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 16, 1977, singer Elvis Presley died at Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0816.html#article))

On August 16, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about hazing. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0816.html)

1777 American forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington, Vt.

1812 Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

1829 Chang and Eng, a pair of conjoined twins from Siam, arrived in Boston to be exhibited to the Western world. (The term Siamese twins became a common phrase for conjoined twins.)

1858 A telegraphed message from Britain's Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

1861 President Abraham Lincoln prohibited the states of the Union from trading with the seceding states of the Confederacy.

1888 T.E. Lawrence, the British soldier who gained fame as "Lawrence of Arabia," was born in Tremadoc, Wales.

1913 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk in present-day Belarus.

1948 Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth died at age 53.

1954 Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc.

1956 Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1960 Britain granted independence to Cyprus.

1987 Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from a Detroit airport, killing 156 people; the sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl.

1987 Thousands of people worldwide began a two-day celebration of the "harmonic convergence," which believers called the start of a new, purer age of humankind.

1988 Vice President George H.W. Bush tapped Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle to be his running mate on the Republican ticket.

2000 Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominated Vice President Al Gore for president.

2002 Terrorist mastermind Abu Nidal was found shot to death in Baghdad, Iraq.

2003 Rep. Bill Janklow, R-S.D., was involved in an accident that killed a motorcyclist in South Dakota. (He was convicted of manslaughter and resigned from Congress.)

2003 Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Saudi Arabia.

2006 A man was arrested in Thailand as a suspect in the slaying of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. However, his confession was later discredited.

2007 Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held for 3-1/2 years as an enemy combatant, was convicted in Miami of helping Islamic extremists and plotting overseas attacks. (He was sentenced to 17 years, four months in prison.)

2008 Michael Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly by a hundredth of a second for his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, tying Mark Spitz's 1972 record.

2008 Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi were married at their Beverly Hills, Calif., home.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 17, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair concluded near Bethel, N.Y. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0817.html#article))

On August 17, 1895, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the race for the Republican presidential nomination of 1896. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0817.html)


1896
A prospecting party discovered gold in Alaska, a finding that touched off the Klondike gold rush.


1915
A mob in Cobb County, Ga., lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment.


1943
The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.


1945
Indonesian nationalists declared independence from the Netherlands.


1948
Former State Department official Alger Hiss faced his chief accuser, Whittaker Chambers, during a closed-door meeting of the House Un-American Activities Committee in New York. Hiss repeated his denial that he'd ever been a Communist agent.


1962
East German border guards shot and mortally wounded 18-year-old Peter Fechter, who had attempted to cross over the Berlin Wall into the western sector.


1969
Hurricane Camille slammed into the GulfCoast, killing 248 people.


1987
Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, died at Spandau prison in West Berlin at age 93, having apparently committed suicide by strangling himself with an electrical cord. He had been the only inmate at Spandau for 21 years.


1992
Actor-director Woody Allen admitted being romantically involved with Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his longtime companion, actress Mia Farrow.


1998
President Bill Clinton underwent grand jury questioning in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.


1998
Russia devalued the ruble.


2000
The Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominated Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman for vice president.


2002
Pope John Paul II arrived in Krakow, Poland, for the ninth and final visit to his native country during his papacy.


2005
Israeli security forces began the forcible removal of Jews from four settlements in the Gaza Strip.


2008
Michael Phelps and three teammates won the 400-meter medley relay for Phelps' record-breaking eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0821.html#article))

On August 21, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0821.html)


1831
Nat Turner launched a short-lived, violent slave rebellion in Virginia.


1858
The first of seven debates between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place in Ottawa, Ill.

1878
The American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y.

1904
Jazz musician and bandleader William "Count" Basie was born in Red Bank, N.J.


1940
Exiled Russian Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds inflicted by an assassin.


1945
President Harry S. Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped some $50 billion in aid to America's allies during World War II.


1983
Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at ManilaInternationalAirport.


1987
Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB.


1991
A hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.


2002
A jury in San Diego convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her home and killing her; he was later sentenced to death.


2006
British prosecutors announced that 11 people had been charged in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners bound for the United States.

[Kestra]

On August 22, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first United States chief executive to ride in an automobile in public... (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0822.html#article))

On August 22, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. and the appointment of the first Roman Catholic cardinal in America. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0822.html)


1485
England's King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the War of the Roses.


1846
The United States annexed New Mexico.


1851
The schooner America outraced the Aurora off the English coast to win a trophy that became known as the America's Cup.


1893
Author, poet, critic and wit Dorothy Parker was born in West Bend, N.J.

1904
Chinese communist leader Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan province.


1956
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon were nominated for second terms by the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.


1968
Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to Latin America.


1986
Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit.


1989
Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, Calif.

1996
President Bill Clinton signed welfare legislation ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from recipients.


2003
Alabama's chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse.


2005
The last Jewish settlers left the Gaza Strip, ending decades of Israel's turbulent occupation.


2008
The U.S. carried out airstrikes in western Herat province in Afghanistan; according to a later U.S. estimate, the raid resulted in the deaths of 33 civilians and 22 militants. (The Afghan government and U.N. investigators said that 90 civilians had died.)

[Kestra]

On Aug. 23, 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0823.html#article))

On August 23, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0823.html)


1754
France's King Louis XVI was born at Versailles.


1775
Britain's King George III proclaimed the American colonies in a state of open rebellion.


1914
Japan declared war on Germany in World War I.

1926
Silent film star Rudolph Valentino died at age 31.


1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.


1960
Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein II died at age 65.


1972
The Republican National Convention, meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., nominated Vice President Spiro T. Agnew for a second term.


1979
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet was on tour in New York.


1989
Yusuf Hawkins, an African-American teenager, was shot dead after he and his friends were confronted by white youths in a Brooklyn neighborhood.


2000
An estimated 51 million viewers watched the first season finale of the reality show "Survivor" on CBS. Contestant Richard Hatch won the $1 million prize.


2003
Former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, was killed by a fellow inmate in a Massachusetts prison.


2005
Israeli forces evicted militant holdouts from two Jewish settlements, completing a historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.


2008
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama introduced his choice of running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, before a crowd outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing record damage; 55 deaths in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas were blamed on the storm. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0824.html#article))

On August 24, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1872. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0824.html)


79
Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. An estimated 20,000 people died.


1572
The slaughter of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris. god bless somebody.


1814
British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.


1857
The New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. failed, sparking the Panic of 1857. :hmm:


1932
Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just over 19 hours. :Plane:

1949
The North Atlantic Treaty went into effect.


1954
The Communist Control Act went into effect, virtually outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.


1959
Three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator, while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.


1968
France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
ooo la la, maybe we should bomb, invade and occupy France. :artist:


1970
A bomb planted by anti-war extremists exploded at the University of Wisconsin's ArmyMathResearchCenter in Madison, killing a researcher.


1989
Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for gambling.


2006
The International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, demoting it to the status of a "dwarf planet.":cry2:you'll always be a planet to us. :Puppy:

2007
A judge in Inverness, Fla., sentenced John Evander Couey to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and burying her alive.

2007
James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced to three life terms for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in Mississippi.


2007
The NFL indefinitely suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick without pay for his involvement in dogfighting. (He was reinstated with conditions in July 2009 after serving 18 months in prison.)

[Kestra]

On Aug. 28, 1963, 200,000 people participated in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0828.html#article))

On August 28, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a scandal involving the Department of Public Works in New York City. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0828.html)


1609
English sea explorer Henry Hudson and his ship, the Half Moon, reached present-day Delaware Bay.


1828
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was born near Tula.


1917
Ten suffragists were arrested as they picketed the White House.


1922
The first radio commercial aired on WEAF in New York City. It was a 10-minute advertisement for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid $100.


1947
Legendary bullfighter Manolete was mortally wounded by a bull during a fight in Linares, Spain; he died the following day.


1955
Emmett Till, an African-American teenager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., by two white men after he was accused of whistling at a white woman. He was found murdered three days later.


1968
Police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.


1981
John W. Hinckley Jr. pleaded innocent to charges of attempting to kill President Ronald Reagan.


1996
Democrats nominated President Bill Clinton for a second term at their national convention in Chicago.


1996
Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana were divorced after 15 years of marriage.


2002
Prosecutors indicted WorldCom executives Scott Sulivan and Buford Yates Jr. in connection with the company's collapse. Both later pleaded guilty to criminal fraud.


2005
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered everyone in the city to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Katrina.


2008
Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination with a speech at Invesco Field in Denver.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 29, 1991, the Supreme Soviet, the parliament of the U.S.S.R., suspended all activities of the Communist Party, bringing an end to the institution. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0829.html#article)) :hmm: maybe someone needs to inform the radical right of this fact. they seem to still be seeing ‘communists’ around every corner. IE: Van Jones, Obama et all.... no wait, they say he's (Obama) Muslim... no wait, Nazi... no wait Socialist... no wait Marxist... buttt weight, there's more! they don't seem to be able to make up their minds.

On August 29, 1908, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the phonograph and the presidential election of 1908. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0829.html)


1533
The last Incan king, Atahualpa, was murdered on orders from Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.


1632
English philosopher John Locke was born in Somerset.

1877
Brigham Young, the second president of the Mormon Church, died in Salt Lake City at age 76.


1944
American troops marched down the Champs Elysees in Paris as the French capital continued to celebrate its liberation from the Nazis.


1957
Sen. Strom Thurmond, D-S.C., ended the longest filibuster in Senate history after talking for 24 hours, 18 minutes against a civil rights bill.
god forbid we have civil rights.


1965
Gemini 5, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles "Pete" Conrad, splashed down in the Atlantic after eight days in space.

1966
The Beatles performed their last concert, at CandlestickPark in San Francisco.


1996
President Bill Clinton's chief political strategist, Dick Morris, resigned amid a scandal over his relationship with a prostitute.


2000
Pope John Paul II endorsed organ donation and adult stem cell study but condemned human cloning and embryo experiments.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 30, 1963, the hot-line communications link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow went into operation. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0830.html#article))

On August 30, 1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0830.html)


1797
"Frankenstein" author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London.


1862
Union forces were defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Va.

1893
Huey P. Long, the "Kingfish" of Louisiana politics, was born in Winn Parish, La.

1905
Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb made his major league debut with the Detroit Tigers.


1918
Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams was born in San Diego.


1941
Nazi forces began a siege of Leningrad during World War II that lasted nearly two and a half years.


1945
Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan and set up Allied occupation headquarters.


1965
The album "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan was released.


1967
The Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court.


1983
Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first African-American astronaut to travel in space when he blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.


1989
A federal jury in New York found "hotel queen" Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax evasion but acquitted her of extortion.


1990
President George H.W. Bush told a news conference that a "new world order" could emerge from the Persian Gulf crisis.


1993
"The Late Show with David Letterman" premiered on CBS.


1999
Residents of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored ballot.


2005
A day after Hurricane Katrina hit, floodwaters covered 80 percent of New Orleans, looting continued to spread and rescuers in helicopters and boats picked up hundreds of stranded people.

[Kestra]

On Aug. 31, 1997, Britain's Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris at age 36. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0831.html#article))

On August 31, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a newspaper scandal during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0831.html)


1886
An earthquake rocked Charleston, S.C., killing up to 110 people.


1888
A prostitute, Mary Ann Nichols, was found murdered in London's East End. She is generally regarded as the first victim of Jack the Ripper.


1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents.


1954
Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern United States, resulting in nearly 70 deaths and millions of dollars in damage.


1962
The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent within the British Commonwealth.


1969
Boxer Rocky Marciano died in a plane crash in Iowa at age 45
.
1980
Poland's Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day strike.


1985
California's "Night Stalker" killer Richard Ramirez was captured by residents of an East Los Angeles neighborhood.


1992
White separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that claimed the lives of Weaver's wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal.


1994
Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.


2002
Jazz musician and bandleader Lionel Hampton died at age 94.


2004
A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station, killing 10 people.


2005
Some 1,000 people were killed when a religious procession across a Baghdad bridge was engulfed in panic over rumors of a suicide bomber.


2006
Iran defied a U.N. deadline to stop enriching uranium.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0904.html#article))

On September 4, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about possible United States intervention in Cuba's first war of independence. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0904.html)


1781
Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers.


1888
George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera and registered his trademark: Kodak.


1917
The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.


1951
In the first live coast-to-coast TV broadcast, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco.


1957
Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel line.


1967
Michigan Gov. George Romney said during a TV interview that he had undergone a "brainwashing" by U.S. officials during a 1965 visit to Vietnam. The comment is widely believed to have derailed his campaign for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.


1972
Swimmer Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals at a single Olympic Games when the United States won the 400-meter relay in Munich.


2002
Singer Kelly Clarkson was voted the first "American Idol" on the Fox TV series.


2006
"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44, died after a stingray's barb pierced his chest.


2007
Toy maker Mattel Inc. recalled 800,000 lead-tainted, Chinese-made toys worldwide, a third major recall in just over a month.


2008
Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in St. Paul, Minn.

2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in a sex scandal, forcing the Democrat out of office after months of defiantly holding onto his job.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic team at the summer games in Munich; 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, five terrorists and a police officer were killed. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0905.html#article))

On September 5, 1874, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the appointment of a new cabinet member. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0905.html)


1698
Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.


1774
The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.


1793
The Reign of Terror began during the French Revolution as the National Convention instituted harsh measures to repress counterrevolutionary activities.


1836
Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.


1882
The nation's first Labor Day parade was held in New York City.


1905
The Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the Russo-Japanese War, was signed in New Hampshire.


1914
The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I.


1939
The United States proclaimed its neutrality in World War II.
it wasn’t until the press broke the story of what was happening to the Jewish community that US begrudgingly became involved.


1945
Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," was arrested in Yokohama.


1957
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, the defining novel of the Beat Generation, was published.


1958
"Doctor Zhivago" by Russian author Boris Pasternak was published in the United States.


1975
President Gerald R. Ford escaped an attempt on his life in Sacramento, Calif., by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson.


1977
The United States launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft two weeks after launching its twin, Voyager 2.
”Kirk Unit, Kirk Unit, V’ger must have the information.”


1997
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at age 87.


2005
President George W. Bush nominated John Roberts for chief justice.


2008
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the highest-ranking American official in half a century to visit Libya, where she met Moammar Gadhafi.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 6, 1901, President William B. McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0906.html#article))

On September 6, 1902, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about William Devery, the corrupt police chief of New York City. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0906.html)

1909
American explorer Robert Peary sent word that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.


1916
The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tenn., by Clarence Saunders.


1941
Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.


1970
Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three jetliners, which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated.


1975
Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova, in New York for the U.S. Open, requested political asylum.


1992
A man who had received a transplanted baboon liver 10 weeks earlier died at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.


1996
Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hit his 500th career home run during a game against the Detroit Tigers.


1997
Britain bade farewell to Princess Diana with a funeral service at Westminster Abbey.


1998
Japanese director Akira Kurosawa died at age 88.


2001
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants became the fifth player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a season. (He finished the year with a record 73 homers.)


2002
Meeting outside WashingtonD.C., for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of Sept. 11, 2001.


2004
Former President Bill Clinton underwent successful heart bypass surgery.


2005
The California Legislature became the first legislative body in the nation to approve same-sex marriages. (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger later vetoed the bill.)


2006
President George W. Bush acknowledged previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects had been transferred from the system to GuantanamoBay for trials.


2007
Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti died at age 71.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 7, 1940, the German air force began its blitz on London during World War II. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0907.html#article))

On September 7, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the recruitment of Union servicemen during the early months of the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0907.html)


1533
England's Queen Elizabeth I was born in Greenwich.


1822
Brazil declared its independence from Portugal.


1901
The Peace of Beijing ended the Boxer Rebellion in China.


1927
TV pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means by using a device called an image dissector.


1936
Rock musician Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas.


1963
The Pro Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, Ohio.


1969
Senate Republican leader Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois died at age 73.


1977
The Panama Canal treaties, calling for the United States to turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington, D.C.

1977
Convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy was released after serving more than four years in prison.


1979
ESPN made its cable TV debut.


1986
Desmond Tutu was installed as the first black to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa.


1990
Kimberly Bergalis of Fort Pierce, Fla., came forward to identify herself as the woman who had been infected with AIDS, apparently by her late dentist. (She died the following year.)


1996
Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later at age 25.


1997
Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator of Zaire, died in exile in Morocco at age 66.


1998
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire equaled Roger Maris' single-season home run record as he hit No. 61 in a game against the Chicago Cubs.


2006
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage confirmed he was the source of a leak that had disclosed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame, saying he didn't realize Plame's job was covert.


2008
Troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackers crashed two airliners into the WorldTradeCenter in New York, causing the 110-story twin towers to collapse. Another hijacked airliner hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html#article))

On September 11, 1869, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a movement to oust August Belmont as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0911.html)

1789 Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first secretary of the treasury.

1814 An American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain during the War of 1812.

1850 Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," gave her first concert in the United States, at CastleGarden in New York.

1885 Author D.H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, England.

1936 President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) in Nevada by pressing a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam's first hydroelectric generator.

1941 Charles A. Lindbergh sparked charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw the United States into World War II.

1962 The Beatles recorded their first single, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You," at EMI studios in London.

1971 Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died at age 77.

1973 Chilean President Salvador Allende died in a violent military coup.

1985 Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds recorded his 4,192nd hit, breaking Ty Cobb's career record.

1987 CBS went black for six minutes after anchorman Dan Rather walked off the set of "The CBS Evening News" because a tennis tournament being carried by the network ran overtime.

1997 Scots voted to create their own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1998 Congress released Kenneth Starr's report, which offered graphic details of President Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct and leveled accusations of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2002 Football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas died at age 69.

2003 Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died from stab wounds inflicted when she was attacked in a Stockholm department store a day earlier.

2007 China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 12, 1977, South African black student leader Steven Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0912.html#article))

On September 12, 1903, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the New York City mayoral race. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0912.html)


1609
English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into the river that now bears his name.


1918
U.S. forces led by Gen. John J. Pershing launched a successful attack on the German-occupied St. Mihiel salient north of Verdun, France, during World War I.

1938
In a speech in Nuremberg, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.


1943
German paratroopers rescued former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he was being held prisoner by his own government.


1944
U.S. Army troops entered Germany for the first time during World War II, near Trier.

1953
Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in Newport, R.I.

1954
"Lassie" made its TV debut on CBS.
Lassie! come home Lassie!

1959
"Bonanza" premiered on NBC.


1974
Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by Ethiopia's military after ruling for 58 years.


2000
Dutch lawmakers gave same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children.


2001
President George W. Bush labeled the previous day's terrorist attacks "acts of war" and asked Congress for $20 billion to rebuild and recover.


2002
President George W. Bush told skeptical world leaders at the United Nations to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Saddam Hussein's Iraq or stand aside as the United States acted.
yor ferus or aginus, I’m the war president and I’m going to war with or without UN or Congressional backing.
btw, only congress can declare war. of course when you’re a dictator you do what you want when you want.


2002
Three former Tyco International Ltd. executives were charged with looting the conglomerate of hundreds of millions of dollars. (Former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz were later convicted; lawyer Mark Belnick was acquitted.)


2003
The U.N. Security Council ended 11 years of sanctions against Libya.


2003
Country musician Johnny Cash died at age 71.


2005
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown resigned, three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
doin a heckof a job Brownie. and thanks for not bothering me with such trivial nonsense as 1000's of ppl dieing (after all, they were black and don't count) when i'm on vacation. i don't know what all the fuss is about.


2006
Syrian guards foiled an attempt by suspected al-Qaida-linked militants to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Damascus.


2006
In a speech in his native Germany, Pope Benedict XVI quoted from an obscure medieval text that characterized some teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," unleashing a torrent of rage across the Islamic world.


2007
Oil prices briefly topped a record $80 a barrel.


2008
A Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. (Federal investigators have said the Metrolink engineer, Robert Sanchez, had been text-messaging on his cell phone and ran a red light shortly before the crash.)

[Kestra]

On Sept. 13, 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0913.html#article))

On September 13, 1862, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Dakota (Indian) War of 1862. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0913.html)


1759
During the final French and Indian War, the British defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham overlooking Quebec City.


1788
The Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election and declared New York City the temporary national capital.


1943
Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.


1948
Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.


1949
The Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed in New York City.
:golf:


1971
A four-day inmates' rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed 43 lives.


1990
"Law & Order" premiered on NBC.


1996
Rapper Tupac Shakur died at a Las Vegas hospital six days after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting; he was 25.


1997
Funeral services were held in Calcutta, India, for Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa.


1998
Former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace died at age 79.


1998
NBC's "Frasier" won a record fifth consecutive Emmy as TV's best comedy series.


1999
A bomb blamed by authorities on Chechen rebels devastated an eight-story apartment building in Moscow, killing at least 124 people.


2000
Former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty in Albuquerque, N.M., to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets. Lee, who had been held in solitary confinement for nine months, was set free with an apology from U.S. District Judge James Parker.


2001
Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States; limited commercial flights resumed for the first time in two days.
pretty interesting that it only took them “2” days to figure out who attacked US, yet they were incapable of preventing the attack. Musta bean that PDB that Bush (and the rest) saw in August stating “Bin Laden determined to strike US”.

2006
Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards died at age 73.


2007
The NFL fined New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 for spying on the New York Jets during a game.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0927.html#article)) and if you believe that...

On September 27, 1902, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about college football. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0927.html)


1779
John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.


1825
The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.


1928
The United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.


1939
Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.


1954
"Tonight!" hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.


1959
A typhoon battered the main Japanese island of Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people.


1990
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Supreme Court nomination of David H. Souter.


1991
The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
sexual harasser now a Supreme Court judge. later to ‘appoint’ :king: giggles as dictator and thief.


1994
More than 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the U.S. House. that worked well... for corporations and the upper 1% of the country


1996
The Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.


1998
Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs in the last game of the season.


1999
Tiger Stadium closed after 87 years as home of baseball's Detroit Tigers.


2001
An armed man went on a shooting rampage in the local parliament in Zug, Switzerland, killing 14 people before taking his own life.


2001
President George W. Bush announced plans to bolster airline security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
control how ppl travel, control the ppl.


2005
Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.


2007
Soldiers fired into crowds of anti-government demonstrators in Yangon, Myanmar, killing at least nine people.

[Kestra]

On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days. (Go to article. (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0928.html#article))

On September 28, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about financing the Union war effort during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.) (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0928.html)


1066
William the Conqueror, the duke of Normandy, invaded England.


1542
Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived in present-day San Diego.


1781
American forces, backed by a French fleet, began the siege of Yorktown Heights, Va., during the Revolutionary War,


1787
Congress voted to send the Constitution to state legislatures for their approval.


1850
Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.


1939
During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.


1972
Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.


1974
First lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Nava lMedical Center in Maryland.
aw, and she used socialized medicine for the surgery. which all other government 'officials' use that the gop calls ‘eeeeeeevvvviiiiiIIIiiiil!’.... that is if it's available to us non-government employee types.


1989
Deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.


1991
Jazz musician Miles Davis died at age 65.


1995
Israeli Prime