Today in History

The British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in the Channel off the coast of Belgium. At least 26 are dead.

President Reagan announces plans to cut 37,000 federal jobs.

Islamic militants in Tehran say that they will turn over the American hostages to the Revolutionary Council.

Iran and Iraq announce that they have settled the border dispute.

President Richard Nixon imposes price controls on oil and gas.

President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his plan to establish a draft lottery.

The United States announces that it will send 3,500 troops to Vietnam.

The Swiss grant women the right to vote in municipal elections.

Upon Josef Stalin’s death, Georgi Malenkov is named Soviet premier.

During talks in Berlin, the Western powers agree to internationalize the Ruhr region.

Winston Churchill opposes the withdrawal of troops from India.

Cologne, Germany, falls to General Courtney Hodges‘ First Army.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, operatic soprano.

British RAF fliers bomb Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany.

In Spain, Jose Miaja takes over Madrid government after a military coup and vows to seek “peace with honor.”

Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova, Russian astronaut, the first woman to orbit the Earth.

Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Columbian-born novelist (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera).

The Allies recapture Fort Douaumont in France during the Battle of Verdun.

German Prince Wilhelm de Wied is crowned as King of Albania.

Lou Costello, American comedian, partner of Bud Abbott.

A would-be assassin tries to kill Wilhelm II of Germany in Bremen.

Richard Leo Simon, publisher, partner of Max Schuster.

Louisa May Alcott dies just hours after the burial of her father.

Ring Lardner, writer (You Know Me, Al).

Over 100 suffragists, led by Susan B. Anthony, present President Chester A. Arthur with a demand that he voice support for female suffrage.

The USS Monitor left New York with a crew of 63, seven officers and 56 seamen.

While campaigning for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln makes a speech defending the right to strike.

The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision holds that blacks cannot be citizens.

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.

After fighting for 13 days, the Alamo falls.

Philip Henry Sheridan, Union Army general.

The Missouri Compromise is enacted by Congress and signed by President James Monroe, providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state, but prohibits slavery in the rest of the northern Louisiana Purchase territory.

Elizabeth Barret Browning, poet (Sonnets from the Portuguese).

Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, painter, sculptor and architect.