Today in History

Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

The first U.S. units to withdraw from South Vietnam leave Saigon.

The U.S. Marine Corps launches Operation Hasting to drive the North Vietnamese Army back across the Demilitarized Zone in Vietnam.

Adolf Hitler makes the V-2 missile program a top priority in armament planning.

Although a neutral country, the United States sends troops to occupy Iceland to keep it out of Germany’s hands.

Ringo Starr, musician, one of the Beatles.

Christopher Stone becomes the first British ‘disc jockey’ when he plays records for the BBC.

Afrikaans is recognized as one of the official languages of South Africa, along with English and Dutch.

Leroy “Satchel” Page, baseball pitcher.

Marc Chagall, French painter and designer.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in Hagerstown, Maryland, reports his defeat at Gettysburg to President Jefferson Davis.

Gustav Mahler, composer and conductor.

Japan opens its ports to trade with the West after 250 years of isolation.

After defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, the victorious Allies march into Paris.

Sir Walter Scott’s novel Waverley is published anonymously so as not to damage his reputation as a poet.

Czar Alexander meets with Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon Bonaparte‘s army begins its march towards Cairo from Alexandria.

Thomas Paine defends the principal of universal suffrage at the Constitutional Convention in Paris.

Benjamin Rush, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones found the Non-denominational African Church.

American troops give up Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, to the British.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French inventor, textile industry pioneer.

A Spanish force invading Georgia runs headlong into the colony’s British defenders. The battle decides the fate of a colony.