Today in History

Today in History

1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

1777 General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey.

1861 Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union.

1903 The Bulgarian government renounces the Treaty of Commerce tying it to the Austro-Hungarian empire.

1910 The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demands universal suffrage.

1912 Plans are announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team.

1916 Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.

1920 The last of the U.S. troops depart France.

1921 Italy halts the issuing of passports to those emigrating to the United States.

1924 King Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt.

1930 The second conference on Germany’s war reparations begins at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

1931 Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.

1933 The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing

500 Chinese.

1946 President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.

1958 The British create the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general.

1959 Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state.

1959 Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.

1961 The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1966 Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions.

1977 Apple Computers incorporates.

1978 North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.

1985 President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics.

1990 Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to US forces. 1993 George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

1994 More than 7 million people receive South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies.

1996 he first mobile flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale.

1999 The Mars Polar Lander is launched.

2000 The last original weekday Peanuts comic strip is published after a 50-year run, following the death of the strip’s creator, Charles Schultz.

Born

106 BC Marcus Cicero, Roman statesman and author.

1621 William Tucker, who is believed to be the first African-American born in the New World.

1793 Lucretia Coffin Mott, women’s rights advocate and founder of the first Women’s Rights Convention.

1901 Ngo Dinh Diem; South Vietnamese president assassinated by his own generals.

1907 Ray Milland, Welsh actor and director; won Academy Award for his role in The Lost Weekend.

1909 Victor Borge, pianist, comedian, conductor.

1911 John Sturges, director (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape).

1917 Vernon A. Walters, US Army lieutenant general, diplomat, deputy director of Central Intelligence; a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

1923 Bud Adams, owner of Houston Oilers (later Tennessee Titans) football team; instrumental in founding the former American Football League.

1929 Sergio Leone, Italian director; instrumental in creating the “Spaghetti Western” genre (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).

1956 Mel Gibson, actor, director, producer, screenwriter (Mad Max, The Passion of the Christ).

History