Today in History

Today in History

585 BC – The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.

1085 – Alfonso VI took Toledo, Spain from the Moslems.

1787 – The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding.

1810 – Argentina declared independence from Napoleonic Spain.

1844 – The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.

1844 – The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore 'Patriot.'

1895 – Oscar Wilde, a playwright, poet and novelist, was convicted of a morals charge and sentenced to prison in London.

1895 – James P. Lee first published 'Golf in America – A Practical Manual.'

1911 – President of Mexico, Porfolio Diaz, resigned his office.

1925 – John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in school.

1927 – Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.

1927 – The 'Movietone News' was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.

1935 – Babe Ruth hit his final homerun, his 714th, and set a record that would stand for 39 years.

1935 – Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100yard dash. He ran it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.

1946 – Jordan gained independence from Britain.

1953 – In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.

1961 – America was asked by U.S. President Kennedy to work toward putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

1963 – The Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1968 – The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.

1970 – Boeing Computer Services was founed.

1977 – 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope' opened and became the largest grossing film to date.

Today in Star Wars History

1977 – An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in 'The Washington Post.' The article called for a national memorial to 'remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons' that had served in the Vietnam War.

1979 – An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed.

1981 – Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago's Sears Tower, while wearing a 'Spiderman' costume, in

7 1/2 hours.

1983 – 'The Return of the Jedi' opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.

1985 – Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people.

1986 – Approximately 7 million Americans participated in 'Hands Across America.'

1989 – The Calgary Flames won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens.

1992 – Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's 'Tonight Show.'

1996 – In Nimes, France, Christina Sanchez became the first woman to achieve the rank of matadore in Europe.

1997 – In Sierra Leone a military coup overthrew the popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He was replaced with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.

1997 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).

1997 – Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.

1999 – A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China concluded that China had 'stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons' and that China's penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories 'spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today.'

2000 – The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a long-term deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner. Time Warner had blacked out Disney programs for a 39 hour period the previous month due to the lack of an agreement.

2001 – Erik Weihenmayer, 32, of Golden, CO, became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2001 – Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2006 – In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.

2008 – NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.

2009 – North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemned the reported test.

History