Today in History

A report claims that the use of defoliants by the U.S. has scarred Vietnam for a century.

Richard Nixon arrives in Beijing, China, becoming the first U.S. president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the U.S.

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcom X) is assassinated in front of 400 people.

Havana places all Cuban industry under direct control of the government.

A grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama indicts 115 in a Negro bus boycott.

The U. S. Eighth Army launches Operation Killer, a counterattack to push Chinese forces north of the Han River in Korea.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica sign a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders.

Hideki Tojo becomes chief of staff of the Japanese army.

The Germans begin construction of a concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Erma Bombeck, author and humorist (The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank).

Robert S. Johnson, American World War II fighter ace who shot down 27 German planes.

The Battle of Verdun begins with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines.

W.H. Auden, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (The Age of Anxiety).

The Mukden campaign of the Russo-Japanese War, begins.

Andrés Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist.