Today in History

A coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia, kills 12 miners and critically injures another. This accident and another within weeks lead to the first changes in federal mining laws in decades.

A severe winter storm hits the Midwestern US; in Chicago temperatures plunge to -13 ºF and19 inches of snow fell; 68 deaths are blamed on the storm.

British police arrest the “Yorkshire Ripper” serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe.

President Jimmy Carter asks the U.S. Senate to delay the arms treaty ratification in response to Soviet action in Afghanistan.

The United States admits the accidental bombing of a Hanoi hospital.

Cuba Gooding Jr., actor; won Academy Award for Jerry Maguire.

American G.I.s move into the Mekong Delta for the first time.

In Vietnam, the Viet Cong down five U.S. helicopters in the Mekong Delta. 30 Americans are reported dead.

Judith Miller, journalist; while working for the New York Times, she was involved in two major controversies, one concerning faulty information in her coverage of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and the other concerning the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The Allies capture Buna in New Guinea.

Hugh Shelton, US general; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1997–2001; the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US occurred near the end of his term.

Roger Miller, singer, songwriter, actor (“King of the Road,” “Dang Me”).

Japanese forces in Manchuria set up a puppet government known as Manchukuo.

William J. Crowe, US admiral; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush; he was ambassador to the UK under President Bill Clinton.

Isaac Asimov, American writer of over 300 books including Foundation and I, Robot.

Russian Bolsheviks threaten to re-enter the war unless Germany returns occupied territory.

After a six-month siege, Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese.

U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.

President Theodore Roosevelt closes a post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to hire a Black postmistress.

Gilbert Murray, Australian-born scholar, chairman of the League of Nations, (1923-1928).

In the second day of hard fighting at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Union troops defeat the Confederates.

Helen Herron Taft, First Lady to President William Howard Taft.

Photography pioneer Louis Daguerre takes the first photograph of the moon.

The French begin bombardment of Madras, India.

Catholic forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take the town of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain.