Today in History

South African political leader Nelson Mandela is released from prison in Paarl, South Africa, after serving more than 27 years of a life sentence.

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to lead the British Conservative Party.

Communist-led rebels shower artillery fire into a crowded area of Phnom Pehn, killing 139 and injuring 46 others.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey begins a tour of Vietnam.

President Lyndon Johnson orders air strikes against targets in North Vietnam, in retaliation for guerrilla attacks on the American military in South Vietnam.

Cambodian Prince Sihanouk blames the United States for a South Vietnamese air raid on a village in his country.

Poet and novelist Sylvia Plath commits suicide in London at age 30.

Iran turns down Soviet aid in favor of a U.S. proposal for aid.

Nationalist Chinese complete the evacuation of the Tachen Islands.

A 75,000-watt light bulb is lit at the Rockefeller Center in New York, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s first light bulb.

Walt Disney’s film Peter Pan premieres.

U.N. forces push north across the 38th parallel for the second time in the Korean War.

The meeting of President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin in Yalta, adjourns.

The German battleships Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen begin their famed channel dash from the French port of Brest. Their journey takes them through the English Channel on their way back to Germany.

The Negrin government returns to Madrid, Spain.