Today in History

The world’s oldest teletext service, BBC’s Ceefax, ceases operation.

Yemeni President Ali Abullah Saleh signs a deal to to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity; the agreement came after 11 months of protests.

In the second-deadliest day of sectarian violence in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 war, 215 people are killed and nearly 260 injured by bombs in Sadr City.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected president of Liberia; she is the first woman to lead an African nation.

An earthquake in Japan kills 35, injures 2,200, and leaves 85,000 homeless or displaced.

An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a US MQ-1 Predator drone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a “land for peace” agreement.

Osama bin Laden issues message entitled “A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.”

Two astronomers, Alan Hale in New Mexico and Thomas Bopp in Arizona, almost simultaneously discover a comet.

The first Smartphone, IBM Simon, introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Princess Mako of Akishino, first-born granddaughter of Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

In a referendum on Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslovia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.

The Hungarian Republic replaces the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.

The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.

A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem terrorist, crashes into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb kills 237 Marines and injures 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurs at French military headquarters, where 58 die and 15 are injured.

US Pres. Ronald Reagan signs top secret directive giving the CIA authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Ishmael Beah, authored A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, a memoir of his time as a Sierra Leonean child solider in that country’s civil war.

Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defects in New York City.

Bryan Allen, piloting the Gossamer Condor, wins the Kremer prize for the first human-powered aircraft to fly a one-mile, figure-eight course.

Pathet Lao communists occupy Vientiane, Laos.

The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.

A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.

The United States calls a halt to the peace talks on Vietnam being held in Paris.

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 10, becoming the first mission to the Salyut 1 space station.

Mafia boss Carlo Gambino is arrested for plotting to steal $3 million.

Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for killing Senator Robert Kennedy.

Four men hijack an American plane, with 87 passengers, from Miami to Cuba.

U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.

Lunar Orbiter 1 takes first photograph of Earth from the moon.

Roger Avary, screenwriter, director (Killing Zoe); shared Academy Award with co-writer Quentin Tarantino for best original screenplay (Pulp Fiction).

Henry Cabot Lodge resigns as the U.S. envoy to Vietnam and is succeeded by Maxwell Taylor.

Doug Flutie, collegiate and pro football quarterback; won Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award (1984).

John Schnatter, businessman; founded Papa John’s Pizza.

Israel announces the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

Alfred “Weird Al” Yankovic, singer, songwriter, satirist; known for his humorous rewrites of popular songs and parodies of pop culture.

The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins: People’s Liberation Army bombards island of Quemoy during Chinese Civil War.

Princess Caroline of Monaco.

Andreas Floer, mathematician, creator of the Floer homology.

Eight nations meet in Bangkok for the first SEATO council.

Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born American film director; won Academy Award for Best Director in 2005 (Brokeback Mountain) and 2012 (Life of Pi).

Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.

William Kristol, American politician, journalist; founded The Weekly Standard, an influential neoconservative opinion publication.

Fatmir Sejdiu, first President of the Republic of Kosovo (2006– ).

General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.

Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, singer, songwriter, musician (“Born to Run,” “Born in the U.S.A”); his multiple awards include 20 Grammys, two Golden Globes, and an Oscar, the latter for “Streets of Philadelphia” (1994).

Japan’s Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.

President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.

Keith Moon, drummer in The Who.

Wartime meat and butter rationing ends in the United States.

US Army General Wesley Clark; while serving as Supreme Allied Commander Europe in NATO (1997–2000) he commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War.

Queen Silvia of Sweden (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath); spouse of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

The film Casablanca premieres in New York City.

Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.

Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.

The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain.

Bob Kahn, computer scientist and engineer; co-developed the Transmission Control Protocol that web browsers use to connect to servers on the World Wide Web.

London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.

The United States abandons the American embassy in Madrid, Spain, which is engulfed by civil war.

Paul Hornung, pro football player; member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The United States and Great Britain agree on a 5-5-3 naval ratio, with both countries allowed to build five million tons of naval ships while Japan can only build three. Japan will denounce the treaty.

Emperor Akihito, Emperor of Japan. Broke with tradition by marrying Michiko Shoda, the first non-aristocrat to join the royal family.

Jim Fixx, runner and writer who popularized running as a form of exercise in the 1970s.

H.O. Smith, molecular biologist credited with helping ‘open the door’ on genetic engineering.

Ray Charles, rhythm ‘n’ blues piano player and singer.

The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.

Rosemary Clooney, singer.

Immigrant laborers Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for a robbery they did not commit. Fifty years later, in 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis establishes a memorial in the victims’ honor.

John Coltrane, influential jazz saxophonist.

Johnny Carson, American television personality who hosted the Tonight Show.

The U.S. Senate passes the Soldiers’ Bonus Bill.

Gloria Whelan, poet, author primarily known for children’s and young-adult fiction; her novel Homeless Bird won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2000.

President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.

Helen O’Connell, big band vocalist.

Great Britain institutes a new constitution for India.

President Wilson feels satisfied that the Germans are accepting his armistice terms and agrees to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans have agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.

Austrian Emperor Charles I makes a peace proposal to French President Poincare.

Secretary of State Lansing hints that the U.S. may have to abandon the policy of avoiding “entangling foreign alliances”.

Clifford G. Shull, physicist, improved techniques for exploring the atomic structure of matter.

The Emperor of Japan declares war on Germany.

The “Young Turks” revolt because they are angered by the concessions made at the London peace talks.

Mack Sennett’s first “Keystone Cop” film debuts, Cohen Collects a Debt.

The Second International Aviation Meet opens in New York.

Jean Anouilh, French playwright.

The Wright brothers form a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.

John Bardeen, physicist, co-inventor of the transistor.

Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist and Nobel Prize Winner.

Marston Bates, American zoologist, author (The Nature of Natural History).

Russo-German talks break down because of Russia’s insistence to consult France.

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Fanny Farmer, among the first to emphasize the relationship of diet to health, opens her School of Cookery in Boston.

A group of U.S. Army soldiers, led by Brigadier General Frederick Funston, capture Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine Insurrection of 1899.

The Federal Party, which recognizes American sovereignty, is formed in the Philippines.

Erich Kastner, German poet, novelist and children’s author (Emil and the Detectives).

Albert Claude, biologist who won the 1974 Nobel for his work on the sub-structure of the cell. He never graduated from high school.

Willie “The Lion” Smith, jazz and ragtime pianist.

Motion pictures premiere in New York City.

Russia, France, and Germany force Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.

Japanese troops take over the Korean imperial palace.

Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.

Louise Nevelson, sculptor.

Adolph Arthur “Harpo” Marx, American comedian, one of the Marx brothers.

Boris Karloff, film actor most famous for his role as the monster in the movie Frankenstein.

Arthur Whitten Brown, British aviator.

Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer at the age of 63.

A Chinese Army defeats the French at Bac Le, Indochina.

Jonathan Wainwright, U.S. general who fought against the Japanese on Corregidor in the Philippines and was forced to surrender.

John Stevens of Neenah, Wis., patents the grain crushing mill. This mill allows flour production to increase by 70 percent.

Ernest King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. fleet who designed the United States’ winning strategy in World War II.

Irvin S. Cobb, U.S. writer, actor, and editor.

Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., president and chairman of the board for General Motors.

John Heisman, American college football coach for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.

The 14th Amendment is ratified, granting citizenship to African Americans.

Madame C. J. Walker, first female African American millionaire.

Emmuska Orczy, baroness and author of The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Confederate and Union forces clash at Mount Jackson, Front Royal and Woodstock in Virginia during the Valley campaign.

The Battle of Chattanooga, one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War, begins (also in Tennessee).

Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson takes Front Royal, Virginia.

Lord Lyons, The British minister to America presents a formal complaint to secretary of state, William Seward, regarding the Trent affair.

Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia patents the cable street car, which runs on overhead cables.

Elisha Otis installs the first modern passenger elevator in a public building, at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway in New York City.

Free Stater J.N. Mace in Westport, Kansas shoots pro-slavery sheriff Samuel Jones in the back.

Great Britain officially recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State.

German rebels in Baden capitulate to the Prussians.

A bloody insurrection of workers erupts in Paris.

Forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat the Mexicans at the Battle of Buena Vista.

The Liberty Bell tolls for the last time, to mark George Washington’s birthday.

Sarah Bernhardt, French actress.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull, the first woman presidential candidate (1872) in the United States.

The Alamo is besieged by Santa Anna.

James Gibbons, American religious leader and founder of Catholic University.

Édouard Manet, French impressionist painter best known for Luncheon in the Grass.

William A. Burt patents his “typographer,” an early typewriter.

Missolonghi falls to Egyptian forces.

After 11 years of war, Spain grants Mexican independence as a constitutional monarchy.

James Buchanan Eads, engineer of the Eads Bridge in St. Louis

Stephen A. Douglas, American politician.

Margaret Fuller, writer and critic.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrives back in St. Louis just over three years after its departure.

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church.

Franklin Pierce, hero of the American war with Mexico and 14th president of the United States.

British Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats the Marathas at Assaye, India.

William Holmes McGuffey, educator famous for his book Eclectic Readers.

A national plebiscite approves the new French constitution, but so many voters sustain that the results are suspect.

The French garrison at Mainz, Germany, falls to the Prussians.

James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (1857-1861).

Jean François Champollion, French founder of Egyptology who deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

President George Washington moves into Franklin House, New York.

Louis XVI of France declares the Parliament restored.

John Hancock is elected president of the Continental Congress for the second time.

Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.

The American navy under John Paul Jones, commanding from Bonhomme Richard, defeats and captures the British man-of-war Serapis.

Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge.

Alexander I, czar of Russia.

King George III of England refuses the American colonies’ offer of peace and declares them in open rebellion.

Austrian forces defeat the Prussians at Landshut, Germany.

British forces seize Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe from France.

British and Hanoverian armies defeat the French at Krefeld in Germany.

Jean Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy, French geographer.

Louis XVI, King of France during the French Revolution who met his fate at the guillotine.

Nicolas Appert, the inventor of canning.

Handel’s Messiah is performed for the first time in London.

The Austrians sign the Treaty of Belgrade after having lost the city to the Turks.

Friedrich Anton Mesmer, physician and hypnotist.

A British attempt to invade Canada by sea fails.

The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.

Captain William Kidd, the Scottish pirate, is hanged on the banks of the Thames.

Russia gives up its Black Sea fleet as part of a truce with the Ottoman Empire.

American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail in their attempt to seize Quebec.

George F. Handel, German composer.

William Penn signs a friendship treaty with the Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

Slaves in Virginia are banned from obtaining their freedom by converting to Christianity.

Wealthy, non-church members in Massachusetts are given the right to vote.

Charles II is formally crowned king, returning the monarchy to Britain, albeit with greatly reduced powers.

France and England form an alliance against Spain.

Rebellion in Ireland. Catholics, under Phelim O’Neil, rise against the Protestants and massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000).

King Charles of England hands over the American colony of Massachusetts to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the founders of the Council of New England.

Samuel Pepys, English diarist.

Sir George Calvert arrives in Newfoundland to develop his land grant.

The Thirty Years War begins.

The Estates-General in Paris is dissolved, having been in session since October 1614.

William of Orange makes his triumphant entry into Brussels, Belgium.

The 5th War of Religion breaks out in France.

Philip II of Spain gives orders to halt colonizing efforts in Florida.

The Sadians defeat the last of their enemies and establish themselves as rulers of Morocco.

Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec on his third voyage to North America.

Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado begins his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest.

Henry VIII‘s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.

The Comuneros are crushed by royalist troops in Spain.

The Hapsburg Charles I succeeds Ferdinand in Spain.

Pedro Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal.

Burgundians capture Joan of Arc and sell her to the English.

The first English order of knighthood is founded.

Scottish patriot William Wallace is hanged, drawn, beheaded, and quartered in London.

The city of Seville, Spain, surrenders to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.

Turks expel the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.

Emperor Diocletian orders the general persecution of Christians in Rome.

Augustus Caesar, first Roman Emperor, who introduced Pax Romana, the era of peace.