Today in History

Chechen rebels take 2,000 people hostage in a hospital in Russia.

Congressman William Gray, an African American, is elected Democratic Whip of the House of Representatives.

Gunmen hijack a passenger jet over the Middle East.

Argentina surrenders to the United Kingdom ending the Falkland Islands War.

A military triumvirate takes control in Saigon, South Vietnam.

Americans take part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.

UNIVAC, the first computer built for commercial purposes, is demonstrated in Philadelphia by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, Jr.

The State of Vietnam is formed.

Donald Trump, former New York real estate mogul and 45th president of the United States. 

Burma is liberated by the British.

Boeing B-29 bombers conduct their first raid against mainland Japan.

The Supreme Court rules that requiring students to salute the American flag is unconstitutional.

German forces occupy Paris.

Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American novelist (The Painted Bird, Being There).

Representative Edward Eslick dies on the floor of the House of Representatives while pleading for the passage of the bonus bill.

Nicaraguan President Porfirio Diaz signs a treaty with the U.S. allowing American intervention in his country.

Pierre Salinger, press secretary for John F. Kennedy.

President Warren G. Harding becomes the first president to speak on the radio.

John William Alcott and Arthur Whitten Brown take off from St. John’s, Newfoundland, for Clifden, Ireland, on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

Women in Norway win the right to vote.

Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist.

The city of Philadelphia observes the first Flag Day.

At the Battle of Pine Mountain, Georgia, Confederate General Leonidas Polk is killed by a Union shell.

Robert Marion “Fighting Bob” La Follette, reform movement leader, Governor of Wisconsin, U.S. Senator and Progressive Party presidential candidate.

A group of settlers declare California to be a republic.

John Bartlett, editor, compiler of Barlett’s Familiar Quotations.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (Uncle Tom’s Cabin).

Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty arrives in Timor in a small boat. He had been forced to leave his ship when his crew mutinied.

The Continental Congress authorizes the “stars and stripes” flag for the new United States.

The U.S. Army is founded when the Continental Congress authorizes the muster of troops.

Oliver Cromwell‘s army routs the king’s army at Naseby.

Massachusetts passes the first compulsory education law in the colonies.

The Peasants’ Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, climaxes when rebels plunder and burn the Tower of London and kill the Archbishop of Canterbury.