Today in History

A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein seize the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin; after five hours they release their hostages and surrender.

US launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the Aug. 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Miracle, the Sacred White Buffalo, born on Heider Farm near Janesville, Wisc. The first white (not albino) buffalo born since 1933, she was a important religious symbol for many US and Canadian Indian tribes.

Secret negotiations in Norway lead to agreement on the Oslo Peace Accords, an attempt to resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After an attempted coup in the Soviet Union, Estonia declares independence from the USSR.

Iraq moves Western hostages to military installations to use them as human shields against air attacks by a US-led multinational coalition.

Part-time mail carrier Patrick Sherrill shoots 20 fellow workers killing 14 at Edmond Okla., the first mass shooting by an individual in an office environment in the US. His actions give rise to the phrase “going postal,” for sudden violent outbursts.

A multinational force including 800 US Marines lands in Beirut, Lebanon, to oversee Palestinian withdrawal during the Lebanese Civil War.

UN Security Council condemns Israel’s declaration that all of Jerusalem is its capital; vote is 14-0, with US abstaining.

The Penmanshiel Diversion on the  the East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland opens, replacing the 134-year-old Penmanshiel Tunnel that had collapsed in March.

NASA launches Viking 1; with Viking 2, launched a few days later, provided high-resolution mapping of Mars, revolutionizing existing views of the planets.

Amy Adams, actress; multiple nominations for Academy Awards, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards (Enchanted, The Fighter).

The Cambodian military launches a series of operations against the Khmer Rouge.

Some 650,000 Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to quell reformers there.

US President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, an anti-poverty measure totaling nearly $1 billion, as part of his War on Poverty.

East Germany begins erecting a wall along western border to replace barbed wire put up Aug 13; US 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry Division arrives in West Berlin.

USSR recovers 2 dogs, Belka and Strelka, the first animals to be launched into orbit and returned alive (Sputnik 5).

Patricia Rozema, film director, screenwriter (Mansfield Park).

Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

Al Roker, weatherman (Today on NBC; Weather Channel).

USSR publicly acknowledges it tested a hydrogen bomb eight days earlier.

John Hiatt, singer/songwriter (“Have a Little Faith in Me”).

Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minster of India.

Isaac Hayes, composer, musician, actor, voice-over actor; co-wrote “Soul Man,” won Academy Award for his composition  “Theme from Shaft.”

Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia (1989–1997) and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1997–2000); tried by UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for war crimes but died before trial concluded.

Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain. Also on this day, in a radio broadcast, Winston Churchill makes his famous homage to the Royal Air Force: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Russia wins an early victory over Germany at Gumbinnen.

700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegoud becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.

The American Great White Fleet arrives in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome.

Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist.

Dublin’s Abbey Theatre is founded, an outgrowth of the Irish Literary Theatre founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory.

H.P. Lovecraft, author of horror tales; created the Cthulhu mythos.

Paul Tillich, theologian and philosopher who wrote Systematic Theology.

General Winfield Scott wins the Battle of Churubusco on his drive to Mexico City.

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States and grandson of President William Henry Harrison.

American General “Mad Anthony” Wayne defeats the Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance in the area.

Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering, commissioned by Peter the Great of Russia to find land connecting Asia and North America, discovers America.

John Milton publishes Paradise Lost, an epic poem about the fall of Adam and Eve.

The first group of twenty Africans is brought to Jamestown, Virginia.

A Byzantine counter-offensive is routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.