Today in History

Congressman Mike Espy of Mississippi is confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

President Carter urges 65 degrees as the maximum heat in homes to ease the energy crisis.

Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger meet to discuss Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).

The U.S. Supreme Court decides that pregnant teachers can no longer be forced to take long leaves of absence.

In Vietnam, the Siege of Khe Sanh begins as North Vietnamese units surround U.S. Marines based on the hilltop headquarters.

Carl T. Rowan is named the director of the United States Information Agency (USIA).

The Soviet Union calls for a ban on nuclear arms in Baghdad Pact countries.

Communist troops force the UN army out of Inchon, Korea after a 12-hour attack.

A Nazi daylight air raid kills 34 in a London school. When the anticipated invasion of Britain failed to materialize in 1940, Londoners relaxed, but soon they faced a frightening new threat.

In North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel launches a drive to push the British eastward. While the British benefited from radio-intercept-derived Ultra information, the Germans enjoyed an even speedier intelligence source.

The United States lifts the ban on selling arms to the Soviet Union.

The League of Nations rejects Japanese terms for settlement with China.

An international arms control meeting opens in London.

Benny Hill, British comedian.

J.D. Rockefeller pledges $1 million for the relief of Europe’s destitute.

The German Krupp plant begins producing guns under the U.S. armistice terms.

Japan rejects the American proposal to neutralize ownership of the Manchurian Railway.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate General.

The French King Louis XVI is guillotined for treason.

Joseph Guillotine proposes a new, more humane method of execution: a machine designed to cut off the condemned person’s head as painlessly as possible.

Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa and Wyandot Indians sign the treaty of Fort McIntosh, ceding present-day Ohio to the United States.

Ethan Allen, American Revolutionary commander.

In Maryland, the first woman lawyer in the colonies, Margaret Brent, is denied a vote in the Maryland Assembly.

Philip Augustus, Henry II of England and Frederick Barbarossa assemble the troops for the Third Crusade.