Today in History

1608 – John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown, VA colony council.

1794 – America’s first non-denominational college was chartered. Blount College later became the University of Tennessee.

1813 – The first defeat of British naval squadron occurred in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The leader of the U.S. fleet sent the famous message “We have met the enemy, and they are ours” to U.S. General William Henry Harrison.

1845 – King Willem II opened Amsterdam Stock exchange.

1846 – Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

1847 – The first theater opened in Hawaii.

1862 – Rabbi Jacob Frankel became the first Jewish Army chaplain.

1897 – British police arrest George Smith for drunken driving. It was the first DWI.

1899 – A second quake in seven days hit Yakutat Bay, AK. It measured 8.6.

1913 – The Lincoln Highway opened. It was the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the U.S.

1919 – New York City welcomed home 25,000 soldiers and General John J. Pershing who had served in the First Division during World War I.

1919 – Austria and the Allies signed the Treaty of St.-Germain- en-Laye. Austria recognized the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

1921 – The Ayus Autobahn in Germany opened near Berlin. The road is known for its nonexistent speed limit.

1923 – The Irish Free state joined the League of Nations.

1926 – Germany joined the League of Nations.

1935 – “Popeye” was heard on NBC radio for the first time.

1939 – Canada declared war on Germany.

1940 – In Britain, Buckingham Palace was hit by German bomb.

1942 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt mandated gasoline rationing as part of the U.S. wartime effort.

1943 – German forces began their occupation of Rome during World War II.

1948 – Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars was indicted for treason in Washington, DC. Gillars was a Nazi radio propagandist during World War II. She was convicted and spent

12 years in prison.

1950 – Eddie Cantor began working on TV on the “Colgate Comedy Hour” on NBC. 1951 – Britain began an economic boycott of Iran.

1953 – Swanson began selling its first “TV dinner.”

1955 – “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS.

1955 – Bert Parks began a 25-year career as host of the “Miss America Pageant” on NBC.

1956 – Great Britain performed a nuclear test at Maralinga, Australia.

1961 – Mickey Mantle tied a major league baseball record for home runs when he hit the 400th of his career.

1963 – Twenty black students entered public schools in Alabama at the end of a standoff between federal authorities and Alabama governor George C. Wallace.

1972 – Gayle Sayers (Chicago Bears) retired from the National Football League (NFL).

1974 – Lou Brock (St. Louis Cardinals) set a new major league baseball record when he stole his 105th base of the season.

1977 – “Mickey Finn” appeared in the comic pages for the last time.