Today in History

Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale chooses Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.

G. Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman and two others are convicted of conspiracy and perjury in connection with the Watergate scandal.

The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney, reports that there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposes a highway modernization program, with costs to be shared by federal and state governments.

Moscow is bombed by the German Luftwaffe for the first time.

Bill Cosby, comedian, actor.

Van Cliburn, American concert pianist.

Andrew Wyeth, American painter.

Milton Berle, comedian, actor.

Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and political activist (Residence on Earth).

R. Buckminster Fuller, architect and engineer.

Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor.

George Eastman, photography pioneer.

Henry David Thoreau, essayist, naturalist and poet (Walden).

The Confederation of the Rhine is established in Germany.

British Admiral Lord Nelson loses his right eye at the siege of Calvi, in Corsica.

William III defeats the allied Irish and French armies at the Battle of Aughrim, Ireland.

Crusaders under Peter the Hermit reach Sofia in Hungary.

Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman general and statesman.