Today in History

Millions of Americans watch former football player O.J. Simpson–facing murder charges–drive his Ford Bronco through Los Angeles, followed by police.

Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.

President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the Salt II pact to limit nuclear arms.

Five men are arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in Cambodia.

Samuel Nabrit becomes the first African American to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission.

27 B-52s hit Viet Cong outposts, but lose two planes in South Vietnam.

The U.S. Supreme Court bans the required reading of the Lord’s prayer and Bible in public schools.

A Federal Court annuls the Arkansas law allowing school closings to prevent integration.

South Korean President Syngman Rhee releases Korean non-repatriate POWs against the will of the United Nations.

General Vo Nguyen Giap ends his Red River Campaign against the French in Indochina.

Surgeon Richard Lawler performs the first kidney transplant operation in Chicago.

Chris Van Allsburg, children’s author and illustrator (Jumanji, The Polar Express).

Organized Japanese resistance ends on the island of Mindanao.

The U.S. First Army breaks through the German lines on the Cotentin Peninsula and cuts off the German-held port of Cherbourg.

Paul McCartney, songwriter and singer, member of the Beatles.

The Soviet Union occupies Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Gail Godwin, writer (The Perfectionists, The Southern Family).

Mobster Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano is found guilty on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.

The U.S. Senate defeats the Bonus Bill as 10,000 veterans mass around the Capitol.

British authorities in China arrest Indochinese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill becomes law, placing the highest tariff on imports to the United States.

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane.

Spain threatens to quit the League of Nations if Germany is allowed to join.

The Fascist militia marches into Rome.

Allied forces on the Western Front begin their largest counterattack yet against the German army.

The Russian Duma meets in secret session in Petrograd and votes for an immediate Russian offensive against the German Army.

John Hersey, novelist and journalist (Men on Bataan, Hiroshima).

U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.

The German Zeppelin SZ 111 burns in its hangar in Friedrichshafen.

Blanche Sweet, film actress.

Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born U.S. composer (The Rite of Spring, The Firebird).

Carl Van Vechten, writer.

James Montgomery Flagg, American artist and author.

General George Crook‘s command is attacked and bested on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.

Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote for president.

George M. Hoover begins selling whiskey in Dodge City, Kansas–a town which had previously been “dry.”

James Weldon Johnson, African-American poet and novelist (The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man).

At Petersburg, Union General Ulysses S. Grant realizes the town can no longer be taken by assault and settles into a siege.

After repeated acts of insubordination, General Ulysses S. Grant relieves General John McClernand during the Siege of Vicksburg.

President Abraham Lincoln witnesses Dr. Thaddeus Lowe demonstrate the use of a hot-air balloon.

Henry Clay Folger, American lawyer and businessman, co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The Republican Party opens its first national convention in Philadelphia.

The Red Turban revolt breaks out in Guangdong, China.

Austrian General Alfred Windisch-Gratz crushes a Czech uprising in Prague.

At the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington.

Ivan Goncharov, Russian novelist (Oblomov).

Napoleon Bonaparte incorporates Italy into his empire.

British troops evacuate Philadelphia.

The British take Bunker Hill outside of Boston, after a costly battle.

William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

John Wesley, English evangelist and theologian, founder of the Methodist movement.

The Dutch fleet sails up the Thames River and threatens London.

Sir Thomas Overbury, English poet and courtier.

Sir Francis Drake claims San Francisco Bay for England.

Edward I (Longshanks), King of England (1272-1307).

German-born Frederick I, Barbarossa, is crowned emperor of Rome.

Emperor Julian issues an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.