Today in History

Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman prime minister of Ceylon.

The French sign an armistice with the Viet Minh that ends the war but divides Vietnam into two countries.

Robin Williams, American comedian and actor.

U.S. Army and Marine forces land on Guam in the Marianas.

Tess Gallagher, American writer.

France accepts Japan’s demand for military control of Indochina.

John Gardner, poet and novelist (Grendel, October Light).

John Scopes is found guilty for teaching evolution in Dayton, Tenn., and is fined $100.

Billy Taylor, jazz pianist.

Isaac Stern, Russian-born violinist.

The British House of Lords ratifies the Versailles Treaty.

Marshall McLuhan, communication theorist (The Medium is the Message).

French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is vindicated of his earlier court-martial for spying for Germany.

Ernest Hemingway, American novelist and short-story writer.

Mary Church Terrell founds the National Association of Colored Women in Washington, D.C.

Frederick Dick, physician.

The James Gang robs a train in Adair, Iowa.

Wild Bill Hickok kills gunman Dave Tutt in Springfield, Missouri, in what is regarded as the first formal quick-draw duel.

In the first major battle of the Civil War, Confederate forces defeat the Union Army along Bull Run near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The battle becomes known as Manassas by the Confederates, while the Union calls it Bull Run.

Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Arab Mameluke warriors at the Battle of the Pyramids.

Pope Clement XIV abolishes the Jesuit order.

The Treaty of Passarowitz is signed by Austria, Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

Russia and Turkey sign the Treaty of Pruth, ending the year-long Russo-Turkish War.

The Peace of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War and cedes Dutch New Amsterdam to the English.

Henry IV defeats the Percys in the Battle of Shrewsbury in England.