Today in History

The Richmond Virginia Planning Commission approves plans to place a memorial statue of tennis professional Arthur Ashe.

The U.S. Supreme Court voids the Louisiana law requiring schools to teach creationism.

The Case-Church Amendment prevents further U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

Over 50,000 people march on Washington, D.C. to support the Poor People’s Campaign.

Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky becomes South Vietnam’s youngest premier at age 34.

Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, becomes the first woman in space.

Kuwait regains complete independence from Britain.

Nine entertainers refuse to answer a congressional committee’s questions on communism.

President Harry S. Truman signs the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extends Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowers the draft age to 18.

Salman Rushdie, British author (Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses).

Tobias Wolff, American writer (This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, The Night in Question).

U.S. Navy carrier-based planes shatter the remaining Japanese carrier forces in the Battle of the Marianas.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington D.C. to discuss the invasion of North Africa with President Franklin Roosevelt.

The town of Bilbao, Spain, falls to the Nationalist forces.

The National Archives and Records Administration is established.

France grants Leon Trotsky political asylum.

Pauline Kael, American film critic, author.

Henry Louis Gehrig, professional baseball player.

Laura Hobson, novelist (Gentleman’s Agreement).

Moe Howard, comic actor, one of the Three Stooges.

The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City from France.

Mexican Emperor Maximilian is executed.

The USS Kearsarge sinks the CSS Alabama off of Cherbourg, France.

President Abraham Lincoln outlines his Emancipation Proclamation. News of the document reaches the South.

Virginians, in what will soon be West Virginia, elect Francis Pierpont as their provisional governor.

The New York Knickerbocker Club plays the New York Club in the first baseball game at Elysian Field, Hoboken, New Jersey.

The Ottomans defeat the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani.

General George Washington‘s troops finally leave Valley Forge after a winter of training.

Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher.

James I, King of England (1603-1625).

Eratosthenes estimates the circumference of Earth using two sticks.