Today in History

An earthquake in Haiti kills an estimated 316,000 people.

Nineteen European nations agree to prohibit human cloning.

The U.S. Congress gives the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.

Peking protests the sale of U.S. planes to Taiwan.

The Khmer Rouge launches its newest assault in its five-year war in Phnom Penh. The war in Cambodia would go on until the spring of 1975.

Yassar Arafat is re-elected as head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Heather Mills, model, charity campaigner; continued modeling with a prosthetic limb after a leg amputation due to a traffic accident and founded Heather Mills Health Trust to assist amputees; married to former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney (2003–2008).

The United States resumes aid to the Laotian regime.

Howard Stern, radio personality, author, TV show host; noted as a “shock jock” for his controversial comments on air.

The Viet Minh cut the supply lines to the French forces in Hoa Binh, Vietnam.

Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio talk show host, political commentator and author; a leading voice in the US neo-conservative movement.

Michael W. Vannier, radiologist; played important role in advancing three-dimensional imaging and surgical planning.

Cynthia Robinson, musician, vocalist with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone.

Soviet forces raise the siege of Leningrad.

Soviet bombers raid cities in Finland.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, former Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, right-wing party in Pakistan; vocal critic of US counterterrorism policy.

Oliver Wendell Holmes retires from the Supreme Court at age 90.

U.S. Secretary of State Kellogg claims that Mexican rebel Plutarco Calles is aiding communist plot in Nicaragua.

Ray Price, singer; leader in the “Nashville sound” movement that introduced lush arrangements into country music recording (“The Same Old Me,” “For the Good Times”).

Ira Hays, one of the US Marines photographed in the iconic image of raising a flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima; member of the Pima tribe; portrayed himself in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima.

P.W. Botha, first State President of South Africa (1984-89).

The U.S. Congress establishes Rocky Mountain National Park.

Kiel and Wilhelmshaven become submarine bases in Germany.

A wireless message is sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Sergi Korolev, engineer, lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer for the Soviet Union during the 1950s and ’60s; often called the “father of practical astronautics”.

Tex Ritter, singer, actor (“Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?”).

Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist, known as the “father of the Soviet atomic bomb.”

Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, commander of the Luftwaffe.

The British-Zulu War begins. British troops — under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus — invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal.

Jack London, American writer (The Call of the Wild).

Russian Grand Duke Alexis goes on a gala buffalo hunting expedition with Gen. Phil Sheridan and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.

John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.