Today in History

Burj Khalifa (Khalifa tower) officially opens in Dubai, UAE. At 2,722 ft (829.8 m) it is the world’s tallest man-made structure.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois elected 44th president of the United States, the first African American to hold that position.

NASA launches the Phoenix spacecraft on a mission to Mars.

SpaceShipOne, which had achieved the first privately funded human space flight on June 21, wins the Ansari X Prize for the first non-government organization to successfully launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space.

Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former professional wrestler, is sworn in as populist governor of Minnesota.

Google founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Russia’s constitutional crisis over President Boris Yeltsin’s attempts to dissolve the legislature: the army violently arrests civilian protesters occupying government buildings.

US Pres. George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 troops to Somalia during the Somali Civil War.

The last American hostages held in Lebanon are released.

Over 300 people die and more than 700 are injured in Pakistan’s deadliest train accident, when an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train.

The Chinese government begins its crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Hundreds are killed and thousands are arrested.

The US Senate votes to give each Japanese-American who was interned during WWII $20,000 compensation and an apology.

President Reagan takes full responsibility for the Iran-Contra affair in a national address.

The U.S. Post Office issues a commemorative stamp featuring Sojourner Truth.

Robert McFarland resigns as National Security Advisor. Admiral John Poindexter is named to succeed.

President Ronald Reagan broadens the power of the CIA by allowing spying in the United States.

Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president of the United States.

At the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran, 90 people, including 63 Americans, are taken hostage by militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. The students demand the return of Shah Mohammad Reza Pablavi, who is undergoing medical treatment in New York City.

Wes Bentley, actor (American Beauty, The Hunger Games).

In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in murder cases. This restores the legality of capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.

Sinai II Agreement between Egypt and Israel pledges that conflicts between the two countries “shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means.”

Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth’s home-run record.

Judge John Sirca imposes a gag order on the Watergate break-in case.

Ione Skye, actress (Say Anything … ).

Ohio National Guardsmen open fire on student protesters at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine others.

Sean Combs, rapper, record producer, actor; at various times used the stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and Diddy. He won three Grammys and two MTV Video Music Awards.

Cambodia admits that the Viet Cong use their country for sanctuary.

Operation Swift begins as US Marines engage North Vietnamese Army troops in Que Son Valley.

Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician.

Pope Paul VI arrives in New York, the first Pope ever to visit the US and the Western hemisphere.

The U.S.S. Maddox and Turner Joy exchange fire with North Vietnamese patrol boats.

Hurricane Flora storms through the Caribbean, killing 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.

Shinya Yamanaka, Japanese physician and researcher; received Nobel Prize for his discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells (2012); awarded Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013).

Jeff Probst, game show host and executive producer, best known as the host of the US version the reality show Survivor.

The 50-star flag makes its debut in Philadelphia.

Peking pardons Pu Yi, ex-emperor of China and of the Japanese puppet-state of Manchukuo.

Dr. Drew (David Drew Pinsky), syndicated radio talk show (Loveline) and television host (Dr. Drew, Lifechangers).

Russell Simmons, businessman; founded Def Jam Hip hop music label and Phat Farm clothing line.

Russian troops attack Budapest, Hungary.

North Korea accepts the United Nations proposals in all major respects.

The Grumman XS2F-1 makes its first flight.

The first transcontinental television broadcast in America is carried by 94 stations.

The University of Tennessee defies court rulings by rejecting five Negro applicants.

Jeff Bridges, actor, producer; won Academy Award for Best Actor as Otis "Bad" Blake in Crazy Heart (2009).

Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire premieres on Broadway starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy.

Laura Welch Bush, wife of US President George W. Bush, she served as First Lady from 2001 to 2009; she used her position to champion education and literacy.

A. Scott Berg, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer (Lindberg, 1998).

Chris Hillman, singer, songwrier, musician; performed with the bands The Byrds, The Hillmen, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Manassas.

US captures the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.

U.S. planes make the first raids on Naples, Italy.

Operation Taifun (Typhoon), which was launched by the German armies on October 2, 1941, as a prelude to taking Moscow, is halted because of freezing temperatures and lack of serviceable aircraft.

Gary Gilmore, American murderer who demanded his death sentence be carried out; he was the first prisoner executed in the US following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia.

Amos Oz, Israeli novelist (The Black Box, TheThird State).

Bart Giamatti, baseball commissioner, president of Yale.

Max Baer Jr., actor, screenwriter, director, producer; best know for his role as Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies TV series

Billboard magazine publishes its first music “Hit Parade.”

Charles A. Hines, US Army major general.

Sam Huff, pro football player; star of CBS TV special The Violent World of Sam Huff (1961) narrated by Walter Cronkite that is frequently credited with the surge of pro football’s popularity in the US.

Sir Charles Kuen Kao, Chinese-born physicist known as the “Father of Fiber Optics” and the “Godfather of Broadband”; he shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Anthony Perkins, actor (Psycho).

Mitzi Gaynor, actress, singer, dancer (film adaptations of There’s No Business Like Show Business, South Pacific).

Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by the British.

Audrey Hepburn (Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston), actress, later U.N. special ambassador.

Alvin Toffler, writer and futurist.

Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting the heads of 4 US presidents on Mount Rushmore.

Russell Hoban, artist and writer (Bedtime for Frances, The Mouse and His Child).

Frank Press, geophysicist.

Eugene Sledge, US Marine, famous for his memoir of the fighting in the Pacific Theater, With the Old Breed.

The entrance to King Tut’s tomb is discovered.

Warren G. Harding is sworn in as America’s 29th President.

Maggie Higgins, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize (1951) for international reporting, for her work in Korean war zones.

Rene Marques, Puerto Rican playwright and short story writer.

France cancels trade treaties in order to compete in the postwar economic battles.

Battle of Broodseinde near Ypres, Flanders, a part of the larger Battle of Passchendaele, between British 2nd and 5th armies and the defenders of German 4th Army; most successful Allied attack of the Passchendaele offensive.

Ruth Handler, businesswoman, toy designer who co-founded Mattel with her husband and created the Barbie doll.

The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince.

The first Seaplane Unit formed by the German Navy officially comes into existence and begins operations from Zeebrugge, Belgium.

Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist.

Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat credited with saving nearly 100,000 Budapest Jews during World War II.

Gold is discovered in Alaska’s Indian Creek.

Race riots break out all over the United States after African American Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match.

California law segregates Caucasian and Japanese schoolchildren.

Richard Wright, novelist best known for Native Son.

Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer, discovered Pluto.

Orville Wright pilots the first flight longer than 30 minutes. The flight lasted 33 minutes, 17 seconds and covered 21 miles.

Alvah Bessie, screenwriter and novelist.

Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Louis Armstrong, legendary jazz trumpeter.

The French National Assembly, successor to the States-General, rejects Nationalist General Mercier’s proposal to plan an invasion of England.

After an exchange of gunfire, fighting breaks out between American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War

Gertrude Lawrence, English actress.

Robert Sherwood, playwright.

Buster (Joseph F.) Keaton, star of silent film comedies including Sherlock, Jr. and The General.

After seizing power, Judge Stanford B. Dole declares Hawaii a republic.

Beatrix Potter sends a note to her governess’ son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit, Cottontail and others. The Tale of Petter Rabbit is published eight years later.

Francisco Franco, Spanish general and dictator who came to power as a result of the Spanish Civil War.

Beno Gutenberg, seismologist.

Knute Rockne, football player and coach for Notre Dame.

Elusive Apache leader Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz.

Damon Runyon, journalist and short story writer.

Rube Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist.

The Edison electric lighting system goes into operation as a generator serving 85 paying customers is switched on.

Will Rogers, American actor and writer.

The Russian Imperial Ballet stages the first performance of “Swan Lake” in Moscow.

Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet.

Kiowa leader Satanta, known as “the Orator of the Plains,” surrenders in Darlington, Texas. He is later sent to the state penitentiary, where he commits suicide October 11, 1878.

The U.S. brigantine Marie Celeste is found adrift and deserted with its cargo intact, in the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and Portugal.

A republic is proclaimed in Paris and a government of national defense is formed.

Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter.

Edith Cavell, English nurse who tended to friend and foe alike during World War I.

Federal troops fail to capture Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, one of the Confederate forts defending Mobile Bay.

Seven solid days of bombardment ends at Charleston, S.C. The Union fires some 1,307 rounds.

Winchester, Va., falls into Union hands, resulting in the capture of 145 Southern soldiers.

Lillian Russell, singer and actress.

The French army, under Napoleon III, takes Magenta from the Austrian army.

Walt Whitman publishes the first edition of Leaves of Grass at his own expense.

Florence Nightingale and her nurses arrive in the Crimea.

Lady (Isabella Augusta) Gregory, Irish playwright, helped found the Abbey Theatre.

Daniel Hudson Burnham, architect and city planner.

Henry David Thoreau begins his 26-month stay at Walden Pond.

Charles C. Abbott, American naturalist (Days Out of Doors).

Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill.

President William Henry Harrison, aged 68, becomes the first president to die in office, just a month after being sworn in.

Samuel Butler, English writer and painter (Erewhon, The Way of All Flesh).

The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, dies at the age of 73.

John Hanning Speke, English explorer.

Stephen Foster, American composer.

Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist.

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the U.S. (1877-1881).

Linus Yale, inventor of the Yale lock.

Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners.

The United States flag is declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars.

Construction begins on the Erie Canal, to connect Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

Napoleon Bonaparte disembarks at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

The Russians fighting against Napoleon reach Berlin. The French garrison evacuates the city without a fight.

The territory of Orleans becomes the 18th state and will become known as Louisiana.

Louis Braille, developer of a reading system for the blind.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian military leader and unifier of modern Italy.

William Rowan Hamilton, Irish scientist.

USS Intrepid explodes while entering Tripoli harbor on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet there during the First Barbary War.

Dorothea Dix, American social reformer.

Thomas Jefferson becomes the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

Congress agrees to pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to protect U.S. shipping.

Vice-President John Adams, elected President on December 7, to replace George Washington, is sworn in.

Horace Mann, educator and author.

Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and essayist (The French Revolution, Sartor Resartus).

British troops capture Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

George Washington is inaugurated as President for the second time.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and author.

General Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, is badly defeated by a large Indian army near Fort Wayne.

Jacques Necker is forced to resign as finance minister in France.

The Constituent Assembly in France abolishes the privileges of nobility.

Louis XVI of France recalls parliament.

Jacob Ludwig Grimm, German philosopher who wrote fairy tales with his brother.

Los Angeles, first an Indian village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree.

Edward Hicks, Quaker preacher and painter (The Peaceable Kingdom).

At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George Washington’s last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.

The amended Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson, is approved and signed by John Hancock–President of the Continental Congress–and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary. The state of New York abstains from signing.

Vicomte François René de Chateaubriand, French writer and chef who gave his name to a style of steak.

The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, the cause of bitter and violent opposition in the colonies

Following the Russian capture of Berlin, Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Torgau.

Casimir Pulaski, American Revolutionary War general.

George III, English king (1760-1820).

A friendship treaty is signed between France and Russia.

A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella.

12 slaves are executed for starting an uprising in New York that killed nine whites.

Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer and violinist.

William III and Mary of England wed on William’s birthday.

William III, Prince of Orange, later King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Parliamentary forces capture King Charles I and hold him prisoner.

Sir Isaac Newton, scientist who developed the laws of gravity and planetary relations.

Samuel Cole opens the first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts.

American Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons.

The fortress at Osaka, Japan, falls to Shogun Leyasu after a six-month siege.

John Cotton, English-born Puritan clergyman (The Way of the Church of Christ in New England).

Francis Drake completes circumnavigation of the world.

A crusade against the Moors of Morocco is routed at the Battle of Alcazar-el-Kebir. King Sebastian of Portugal and 8,000 of his soldiers are killed.

The Proclamation of Trent is made.

Christopher Columbus discovers Guadeloupe during his second expedition.

After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa’s west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain’s rights in the Canary Islands.

In England, the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury.

Henry VI is deposed and the Duke of York is proclaimed King Edward IV.

Prince Henry the Navigator, sponsor of Portuguese voyages of discovery

King Henry III puts down a revolt of English barons lead by Simon de Montfort.

At the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines, who support the emperor, defeat the Florentine Guelfs, who support papal power.

Richard I, King of England, is freed from captivity in Germany.

Frederick Barbarossa is chosen as emperor and unites the two factions, which emerged in Germany after the death of Henry V.

Harun al-Rashid succeeds his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad.

With the death of his brother Carloman, Charlemagne becomes sole ruler of the Frankish Empire.

Umar of Arabia is assassinated at Medina and is succeeded as caliph by Uthman.

In Constantinople, Justin, seriously ill, crowns his nephew Justinian as his co-emperor.