Today in History

Nigeria’s former military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his chief deputy are charged with conspiracy to overthrow Gen. Sani Abacha’s military government.

Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing John Lennon.

The Soviet Union announces a partial withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.

Skylab astronauts splash down safely in the Pacific after a record 28 days in space.

President Richard Nixon signs the 26th amendment, lowering the voting age to 18.

The battle for Algiers begins as three buildings in The Casbah are blown up.

President Franklin Roosevelt signs the “GI Bill of Rights” to provide broad benefits for veterans of the war.

A Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Ed Bradley, broadcast journalist.

France and Germany sign an armistice at Compiegne, on terms dictated by the Nazis.

Joe Louis floors Max Schmeling in the first round of the heavyweight bout at Yankee Stadium.

Adolf Hitler bans political parties in Germany other than the Nazis.

A son is born to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

France and Spain agree to join forces against Abd el Krim in Morocco.

Joseph Papp, theater director and producer, founder of the New York Public Theatre and Shakespeare-in-the-Park.

Austro-German forces occupy Lemberg on the Eastern Front as the Russians retreat.

King George V of England is crowned.

German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich announces a definitive cure for syphilis.

Billy Wilder, film director (Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment).

Erich Maria Remarque, German novelist (All Quiet on the Western Front).

General Alfred Terry sends Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn rivers to search for Indian villages.

Confederate General A. P. Hill turns back a Federal flanking movement at the Weldon Railroad near Petersburg, Virginia.

British seamen board the USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to the War of 1812.

Slavery is outlawed in England.

George Vancouver, English navigator.

The French take the French town of Thionville from the English.

Richard II, who is still a child, begins his reign, following the death of his grandfather, Edward III. His coronation takes place July 16.