Today in History

Today in History

1760 Major Roger Rogers takes possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain.

1787 Louis XVI promulgates an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.

1812 The last elements of Napoleon Bonaparte‘s Grand Armee retreat across the Berezina River in Russia.

1863 The Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., ends with a Confederate withdrawal.

1864 Colonel John M. Chivington’s 3rd Colorado Volunteers massacre Black Kettles’ camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colo.

1903 An Inquiry into the U.S. Postal Service demonstrates the government has lost millions in fraud.

1923 An international commission headed by American banker Charles Dawes is set up to investigate the German economy.

1929 Commander Richard Byrd makes the first flight over the South Pole.

1931 The Spanish government seizes large estates for land redistribution.

1939 Soviet planes bomb an airfield at Helsinki, Finland.

1948 The Metropolitan Opera is televised for the first time as the season opens with “Othello.”

1949 The United States announces it will conduct atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

1961 NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos into Earth orbit.

1962 Algeria bans the Communist Party.

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

1967 US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation.

1972 Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.

2007 Armed forces of the Philippines besiege The Peninsula Manila in response to a mutiny led by Senator Antonio Trillanes.

Born

1803 Christian Doppler, best known for his explanation of perceived frequency variation of sound and light waves, known as the Doppler effect.

1832 Louisa May Alcott, novelist (Little Women).

1895 Busby Berkeley, director (42nd Street).

1898 C.S. Lewis, Christian writer.

1900 Mildred Elizabeth Sisk, aka Axis Sally, Nazi propagandist.

1908 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., politician and Civil Rights leader.

1911 Konrad Fuchs, German atomic physicist.

1918 Madeleine L’Engle, writer (AWrinkle in Time).

1919 Joe Weider, Canadian-American bodybuilder and magazine publisher; co-founded the International Federation of Body Building & Fitness and Muscle & Fitness magazine.

1921 Dagmar (Virginia Ruth Egnor) actress, model, television personality (Dagmar’s Canteen, Broadway Open House).

1932 Jacques Chirac, politician; President of France

(1995–2007).

1933 John Mayall, singer, songwriter, musician; founder of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers band.

1940 Chuck Mangione, jazz musician, composer (“Feels So Good”).

1942 Ann Dunham, mother of Barack Obama, 44th President of the US; she was an anthropologist specializing in economic anthropology and rural development.

1955 Howard “Howie” Mandel, Canadian comedian, actor (St. Elsewhere), TV host (Deal or No Deal game show), voice actor (Bobby’s World); judge on America’s Got Talent TV show.

1957 Janet Napolitano, politician, lawyer; first woman to serve as US Secretary of Homeland Security (2009-

2013).

1973 Sarah Jones, Tony and Obie award-winning playwright, actress, poet (Bridge & Tunnel).

History