Today in History

Suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministries of the Transitional Federal Government.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase distressed assets of financial corporations and supply cash directly to banks to keep them afloat.

Prince Sverre Magnus, third in line of succession to the Norwegian throne.

Statue of Liberty’s pedestal reopens to visitors after being closed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Protestant loyalists in Belfast, Ireland, begin an 11-week picket of the Holy Cross Catholic school for girls, sparking rioting.

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

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky appears on national television to explain her affair with President Bill Clinton.

Representatives of 121 nations sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting the manufacture or deployment of antipersonnel landmines; the People’s Republic of China, the US and the USSR do not sign.

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

Former pro football star and actor O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, ending what many called “the Trial of the Century.”.

Russia and China sign a demarcation agreement to end dispute over a stretch of their border and agree they will no longer target each other with nuclear weapons.

Battle of Mogadishu, in which 18 US soldiers and some 1,000 Somalis are killed during an attempt to capture officials of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s organization.

A test engineer for Sema Group sends the world’s first text message, using a personal computer and the Vodafone network.

After 40 years of division, East and West Germany are reunited as one nation.

Presidents George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announce the official end to the Cold War at a meeting in Malta.

The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports the U.S. has secretly been selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages being held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon, in what later became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight.

Toxic gas leaks from a Union Carbide plant and results in the deaths of thousands in Bhopal, India.

A British submarine sinks Argentina’s only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.

Fearne Cotton, English radio and television presenter.

Eleven are dead and eight injured in a mad rush to see a rock band (The Who) at a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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.

The State Department proposes the admission of 10,000 more Vietnamese refugees to the United States.

Ashley Jones, actress (True Blood and The Young and the Restless TV series).

The Louisiana Superdome is dedicated.

Charles Colson, an aide to President Richard Nixon, pleads guilty to obstruction of justice.

Holly Marie Combs, actress, TV producer (Charmed; Pretty Little Liars TV series).

Former Beatle Paul McCartney announces formation of his new group, Wings.

James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.‘s assassin, is caught in a jail break attempt.

U.S. President Richard Nixon, speaking on TV and radio, asks the “silent majority” of the American people to support his policies and the continuing war effort in Vietnam.

After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retake Dai Do complex in Vietnam, only to find the North Vietnamese have evacuated the area.

The Battle of Dak To begins in Vietnam’s Central Highlands; actually a series of engagements, the battle would continue through Nov. 22.

Three-thousand South Vietnamese Army troops lead a protest against the Ky regime in Saigon.

The National Council of Churches asks the United States to halt the massive bombings in North Vietnam.

Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the slain president John F. Kennedy, is elected as a senator from New York.

Terri Schiavo, who became the focus of a 15-year legal struggle over the question of artificially prolonging the life of a patient, Schiavo, whom doctors had diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Daryl Hannah, actress (Blade Runner, Steel Magnolias).

Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.

The first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, passes under the North Pole.

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik II with the dog Laika, the first animal in space, aboard.

Gary Ross, film director, screenwriter (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit).

Two children’s television programs and a family sitcom all destined to become classics debut: Captain Kangaroo, Mickey Mouse Club, and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Al Sharpton, African-American minister, civil rights activist, TV and radio talk show host; unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for the US presidency in 2004.

Roseanne Barr, comedian, actress, producer; best known for her starring role in the TV series Roseanne, for which she won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Rick Mears, race car driver; three-time Indycar national champion (1979, 1981, 1982).

The Chinese close in on Pyongyang, Korea, and UN forces withdraw southward.

Larry Holmes, professional boxer known as “The Easton Assassin”; his 20 successful defenses of his heavyweight title is second only to Joe Louis’ record of 25.

Ozzy Osbourne, singer, songwriter, actor; member of the influential rock band Black Sabbath; an MTV reality show, The Osbournes, followed the lives of the singer and his family (2002-05).

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

General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander of the Philippines, surrenders to Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at Baguio.

German troops evacuate Athens, Greece.

British troops invade Italy, landing at Calabria.

Martin Cruz Smith, novelist (Gorky Park).

Chubby Checker (Ernest Evans), singer, songwriter who popularized the dance The Twist; Billboard magazine ranked “The Twist” as the most popular single in its Hot 100 since the list’s debut in 1958.

U.S. Army adopts airborne, or parachute, soldiers. Airborne troops were later used in World War II for landing troops in combat and infiltrating agents into enemy territory.

The British passenger ship Athenia is sunk by a German submarine in the Atlantic, with 30 Americans among those killed. American Secretary of State Cordell Hull warns Americans to avoid travel to Europe unless absolutely necessary.

Eddie Cochran, influential rock ‘n’ roll pioneer (“Summertime Blues”).

Morgan Llywelyn, American-born Irish author noted for historical fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as historical nonfiction (1921, the War for Independence); received Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year award (1999).

Larry McMurtry, novelist (The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment).

Left-wing groups in France form the Socialist and Republican Union.

Abimael Guzman (Presidente Gonzalo), leader of the Shining Path Maoist guerrilla insurgency in Peru.

Paul Crutzen, Dutch chemist.

Eileen Brennan, actress; won Golden Globe and Emmy for her role in the TV adaptation of Private Benjamin.

The comic strip Dick Tracy first appears in the New York News.

Helmut Kohl, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially changes its name to Yugoslavia.

Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin dies as a result of a bomb blast set off by the Japanese.

Hugh Sidey, news correspondent and author of John F. Kennedy, President.

British reports claim that German soldiers are being trained in the Soviet Union.

Jean-Luc Godard, French film director (Breathless).

Leon Uris, writer whose works include Battle Cry and Exodus.

In Italy, dictator Benito Mussolini grants women the right to vote.

Sven Nykvist, Swedish cinematographer.

Milk drivers on strike dump thousands of gallons of milk onto New York City’s streets to protest the drink’s varying prices on the market.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal [Kath Walker], Australian Aboriginal poet.

Pete Seeger, folksinger and songwriter.

The Allied Conference ends in London where they decide that Germany must pay for the war.

A German submarine sinks the U.S. liner Housatonic off coast of Sicily. The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.

French commander Joseph Joffre is dismissed after his failure at the Somme. General Robert Nivelle is the new French commander in chief.

The United States expels German attaches on spy charges.

Dixie Lee Ray, Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission who received the U.N. Peace Prize in 1977.

William Inge, American playwright (Picnic, Bus Stop).

The first all-metal plane flies near Issy, France, piloted by Ponche and Prinard.

Airplanes are used for the first time in a military capacity when Italian planes reconnoiter Turkish lines near Tripoli.

Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America is climbed.

James “Scotty” Reston, New York Times reporter, editor and columnist.

Allan Allensworth files the site plan for the first African-American town, Allensworth, California.

Carl Anderson, physicist and 1936 Nobel prize winner for his discovery of the positron.

The U.S. Supreme Court orders Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) leaders extradited to Idaho for trial in the Steunenberg murder case.

Maggie Kuhn, social activist and founder of “The Gray Panthers.”

Charles R. Drew, American physician, researcher of blood plasma.

Walker Evans, photographer best known for his Great Depression photos for the Farmers Security Administration (FSA).

Andre Malraux, French novelist and author of  La Condition Humaine (Man’s Fate).

Thomas Wolfe, American novelist (Look Homeward Angel) not to be confused with American novelist Tom Wolfe (The Right Stuff).

Golda Meir, Fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974).

William McKinley is elected 25th president of the United States.

The first professional American football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania between the Latrobe Young Men’s Christian Association and the Jeannette Athletic Club. Latrobe wins 12-0.

Richard Niebuhr, theologian.

First automatic telephone exchange goes into operation in La Porte, Indiana.

The classic baseball poem “Casey at the Bat,” written by Ernest L. Thayer, is published in the San Francisco Examiner.

Rupert Brooke, English poet who mainly wrote about World War I.

The U.S. Supreme Court declares American Indians to be “dependent aliens.”

Congress passes the Immigration Act, banning Chinese immigration for ten years.

George M. Cohan, American entertainer and songwriter.

Rutherford B. Hayes, the republican governor of Ohio is elected president, his election confirmed by an electoral commission after disputed election the previous November.

John L. Routt, the Colorado Territory governor, is elected the first state governor of Colorado in the Centennial year of the U.S.

Ferdinand Porsche, automotive engineer, designer of the Volkswagen in 1934 and the Porsche sports car in 1950.

Gertrude Stein, poet and novelist (Three Lives, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas).

Captain Jack and three other Modoc Indians are hanged in Oregon for the murder of General Edward Canby.

William Henry Davies, Welsh poet.

Ulysses S. Grant elected the 18th president of the United States.

Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister during the general strike of 1926.

President Abraham Lincoln‘s funeral train arrives in Springfield, Illinois.

Major General William Tecumseh Sherman meets with slight resistance from Confederate troops at Thomas Station on his march to the sea.

Confederate General James Longstreet moves his army east and north toward Greeneville. This withdrawal marks the end of the Fall Campaign in Tennessee.

Confederate raiders attack a Federal forage train on the Hardin Pike near Nashville, Tenn.

Union troops defeat Confederate forces at Philippi, in western Virginia

The Pony Express connects St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.

France declares war on Austria.

Joseph Conrad, Polish-born novelist (Heart of Darkness, Nostromo).

Louis H. Sullivan, architect who gained fame for his design of the Chicago Auditorium Theater.

General William Harney defeats Little Thunder’s Brule Sioux at the Battle of Blue Water in Nebraska.

Sarah Orne Jewett, author (Tales of New England, The Country of the Pointed Firs).

Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney establish the North Star, and anti-slavery paper.

Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state.

Dankmar Adler, architect and engineer.

Hermann Karl Vogel, German astronomer.

Frederick Douglass escapes slavery disguised as a sailor. He would later write The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, his memoirs about slave life.

John Burroughs, nature writer.

Carlos Juan Finlay, Cuban epidemiologist.

Ignatius Donnelly, American social reformer best known for his book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.

George B. McClellan, Union general who defeated Robert E. Lee at Antietam and ran against Abraham Lincoln for president.

William Macy “Boss” Tweed, New York City political boss.

Edward Everett Hale, American clergyman and author (Man without a Country).

Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to get an MD from a U.S. medical school.

Illinois admitted into the Union as the 21st state.

The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans is opened.

American troops destroy the Indian village of Tallushatchee in the Mississippi Valley.

Horace Greely, founder of the New York Tribune and abolitionist.

Felix Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream).

Jefferson Davis, President of Confederate States of America.

The trial of Aaron Burr begins. He is accused of plotting the secession of New England.

Muhammad Ali becomes the new ruler of Egypt.

Richard Cobden, English economist and politician.

The first impeachment trial of a U.S. Judge, John Pickering, begins.

Karl Baedeker, German publisher, well known for travel guides.

The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Hohenlinden, near Munich.

William Cullen Bryant, American poet and journalist.

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

Congress passes a resolution authorizing the U.S. Mint; legislation creating the mint will be passed on Apr. 2, 1792.

In Paris, the Marquis de Condorcet proposes granting civil rights to women.

The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the new United States, formally bringing the American Revolution to an end.

The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, is carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell.

Congress borrows five million dollars to halt the rapid depreciation of paper money in the colonies.

George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.

France cedes to Spain all lands west of the Mississippi–the territory known as Upper Louisiana.

Gilbert Stewart, portrait painter.

Russia signs a treaty with the Turks, ending a three-year conflict between the two countries.

James Hutton, Scottish scientist, pioneer in the field of geology.

John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich and inventor of the sandwich.

French forces under Marshal Luxembourg defeat the English at the Battle of Steenkerque in the Netherlands.

The first paper money in America is issued in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Edward Young, English poet, dramatist and literary critic (Night Thoughts).

The English under Cromwell defeat a superior Scottish army under David Leslie at the Battle of Dunbar.

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

Henry Hudson of England discovers a great bay on the east coast of Canada and names it for himself.

French forces in Florida slaughter hundreds of Spanish.

Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France sign the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending a long series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.

Mary Tudor, the new Queen of England, enters London.

French printer Etienne Dolet, accused of heresy, blasphemy and sedition, is hanged and burned at the stake for printing reformist literature.

Hernando De Soto claims Florida for Spain.

The first Parliament for five years opens in England and the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts.

Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini (“Mona Lisa”).

Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.

Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his voyage to the new world.

Niccolo Machiavelli, political advisor and writer (The Prince).

Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano succeed their father, Piero de Medici, as rulers of Florence, Italy.

John of Gaunt and Edward the Black Prince win the Battle of Najera, in Spain.

Six burghers of the surrounded French city of Calais surrender to Edward III of England in hopes of relieving the siege.

Edward III of England begins the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.

Mamelukes under Sultan Qutuz defeat Mongols and Crusaders at Ain Jalut.

The Mongols take over Vladimir, Russia.

After the death of Henry II, Richard Lionheart is crowned king of England.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa hurtles prisoners, including children, at the Italian city of Crema, forcing its surrender.

Christian Crusaders of the First Crusade seize Antioch, Turkey.

In Persia, Kavadh sues for peace with the Byzantines.

Pope Gelasius asserts that his authority is superior to Emperor Anastasius.

Marcus Cicero, Roman statesman and author.