Today in History

Iran opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.

Ethiopia mounts a counter attack against Somalia.

North Vietnamese use 11 Soviet-built light tanks to overrun the U.S. Special Forces camp at Lang Vei at the end of an 18-hour long siege.

U.S. jets hit Dong Hoi guerrilla base in reprisal for the Viet Cong raids.

The British band The Beatles are greeted by 25,000 fans upon their arrival in the United States at JFK Airport.

The Mona Lisa is put on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The United States recognizes Vietnam under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai, not Ho Chi Minh who is recognized by the Soviets.

The Germans launch a second attack against the Allied beachead at Anzio, Italy. They hoped to push the Allies back into the sea.

Amelia Earhart weds George Putnam in Connecticut.

The United States signs an arbitration treaty with France.

Negro History Week, originated by Carter G. Woodson, is observed for the first time.

The British steamer California is sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat.

Fieldmarshal Paul von Hindenburg moves on Russians at Masurian Lakes.

The Turks lose 5,000 men in a battle with the Bulgarian army in Gallipoli.

Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin, Swedish physiologist.

Sinclair Lewis, novelist of satire and realism. (Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry).

American pugilist John L. Sullivan becomes the last of the bare-knuckle world heavyweight champions with his defeat of Patty Ryan in Mississippi City.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author whose works were the basis for television’s Little House on the Prairie.

Sir James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and editor.

The first successful U.S. educational magazine, Academician, begins publication in New York City.

Charles Dickens, prolific English novelist whose stories reflected life in Victorian England. Some of his more famous works include Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities.

John Deere, farm equipment manufacturer

The Siege of Gibraltar, which was pursued by the Spanish and the French since July 24, 1779, is finally lifted.

The Netherlands, England and Sweden conclude an alliance directed against Louis XIV of France.

Sir Thomas More, English statesman and writer, famous for Utopia, later executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII as the head of the church.

A Thracian officer by the name of Leo is proclaimed as emperor of the East by the army general, Aspar, on the death of the Emperor Marcian.