Today in History

US Court of Appeals rules Congress must save all emails.

The wreckage of a plane that carried U.S. congressman Mickey Leland and others on a humanitarian mission is found on a mountain side in Ethiopia; there are no survivors.

Bomb attack in Beirut during Second Lebanese Civil War kills more than 150 people.

A 17 year-old Buddhist monk burns himself to death in Saigon, South Vietnam.

Construction begins on Berlin Wall during the night.

Herb Ritts, photographer who revolutionized fashion photography in the 1980s and created many iconic photos of celebrities.

Dan Fogelberg, multiple-platinum singer-songwriter.

During the Berlin Airlift, the weather over Berlin becomes so stormy that American planes have their most difficult day landing supplies. They deem it ‘Black Friday.’

Robert Lee Stewart, US Army brigadier general and astronaut.

Ann Armstrong Daily, founder of Children’s Hospice international.

Jocelyn Elders, first African American US Surgeon General (Sept 1993–Dec 1994).

Adolf Hitler refuses to serve as Franz Von Papen’s vice chancellor.

Don Ho, Hawaii’s best-known musician and singer (“Tiny Bubbles”).

Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary leader and president.

Daniel Schorr, radio and television correspondent.

Ben Hogan, American golfer.

British nurse Florence Nightingale, famous for her care of British soldiers during the Crimean War, dies.

Felix Wankel, inventory of the rotary engine which bears his name.

Alfred Hitchcock, director of over 50 films including Rebecca, Rear Window, Psycho and North by Northwest.

Manila, the capital of the Philippines, falls to the U.S. Army.

The first issue of the Afro American newspaper is published in Baltimore, Maryland.

The first coin-operated telephone is patented by William Gray.

The first African-American nursing school opens at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union army under Thomas Crittenden at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Phoebe Anne Moses, later known as Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter and entertainer.

Lucy Stone, woman’s rights activist, founder of Woman’s Journal.

The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.

The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Austria defeat the French Army at the Battle of Blenheim.

War starts when the Spanish are expelled from Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Indians under Chief Pope.

Johann Christoph Denner, inventor of the clarinet.

Emperor Ferdinand II dismisses Albert Eusebius von Wallenstein, his most capable general.

Hernan Cortes captures the city of Tenochtitlan, Mexico, and sets it on fire.