Today in History

Coach John Thompson of Georgetown University becomes the first African-American coach to win an NCAA basketball tournament.

Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States after a twenty-year absence.

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

President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan. It will revive war-torn Europe.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that black citizens are eligible to vote in all elections, including primaries.

The Japanese begin their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.

Bruno Hauptmann, killer of the Lindbergh baby, is executed.

Jane Goodall, British anthropologist, known for her work with African chimpanzees.

Helmut Kohl, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Doris Von Kappelhoff [Doris Day], American singer and actress.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre are married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

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

Henry R. Luce, magazine publisher, founder of Time, Fortune and Life.

Gertrude Bridget “Ma” Rainey, American singer, “the mother of the blues.”

The American outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed by his cousin, Bob Ford.

Union forces occupy the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.

Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C.

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

Hermann Karl Vogel, German astronomer.

John Burroughs, nature writer.

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

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

Washington Irving, American writer (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle).

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.

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

In Persia, Kavadh sues for peace with the Byzantines.