Today in History

US Senate confirms Janet Yellen as the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve Bank in the central bank’s 100-year history.

Former Ku Klux Klan organizer Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

In one of the closest Presidential elections in U.S. history, George W. Bush was finally declared the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 Presidential elections more than five weeks after the election due to the disputed Florida ballots.

Astronomers report sighting a new galaxy 12 billion light years away.

Over 16,000 U.S. and 14,000 Vietnamese troops start their biggest attack on the Iron Triangle, northwest of Saigon.

Moscow announces a reduction in its armed forces by 300,000.

Nancy Lopez, pro golfer; won LPGA Championship (1978, 1985) and Mazda LPGA Championship (1989).

Syd Barrett, musician, singer, songwriter; founding member of the band Pink Floyd.

Boeing B-29 bombers in the Pacific strike new blows on Tokyo and Nanking.

Bonnie Franklin, actress (One Day at a Time TV series).

President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to support the Lend-lease Bill to help supply the Allies.

Lou Holtz, college football coach; television sports commentator.

Queen Margarita of Bulgaria (Dona Margarita Gomez-Acebo y Cejuela).

Earl Scruggs, musician; popularized the finger-picking style of banjo playing; blended rock and bluegrass.

The U.S. Navy orders the sale of 125 flying boats to encourage commercial aviation.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, dies at the age of 60 in his home at Sagamore Hill, New York.

Germany acknowledges Finland’s independence.

Loretta Young, actress; won Academy Award for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947).

Danny Thomas, actor, producer, philanthropist; founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Union leaders ask President William H. Taft to investigate U.S. Steel’s practices.

Japanese railway authorities in Korea refuse to transport Russian troops.

Maria of Romania, Queen of Yugoslavia; wife of King Alexander.

Heinz Nordhoff, German engineer, named managing director of the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg after World War II; under his leadership the Volkswagen Beetle became a worldwide phenomenon.

Sam Rayburn, U.S. Congressman from Texas & Speaker of the House (1940-46, 1949-53).

Carl Sandburg, U.S. journalist, poet and biographer.

The Governor of Maryland, Thomas Hicks, announces his opposition to the state’s possible secession from the Union.

Charles Sumner, anti-slavery senator from Massachusetts.

Henry VIII of England marries his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage will last six months.

Joan of Arc, French Saint and national heroine.

Richard II, son of Edward the Black Prince.

Harold Godwineson is crowned King Harold II – King of England.