Today in History

President Reagan takes full responsibility for the Iran-Contra affair in a national address.

Queen Elizabeth II knights Charlie Chaplin.

Fifty-seven people are killed as the French submarine Eurydice sinks in the Mediterranean Sea.

Six people get the death sentence in Paris plotting to kill President Charles de Gaulle.

North Korea accuses the United nations of using germ warfare.

Berlin is bombed by the American forces for the first time.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated to his first term as president in Washington, D.C.

Miriam Makeba, South African singer.

Alan Sillitoe, novelist (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner).

Warren G. Harding is sworn in as America’s 29th President.

Doctor Fillatre of Paris, France successfully separates Siamese twins.

The French council of war unanimously votes a mandatory three-year military service.

The New York board of education bans the act of whipping students in school.

Ding Ling, Chinese writer and women’s rights activist.