Today in History

Lithuania declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev is named the new Soviet leader.

An FBI agent is shot at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.

Levi-Strauss starts to sell bell-bottomed jeans.

Three men are convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.

The American navy begins inspecting Vietnamese junks in hopes of ending arms smuggling to the South.

Douglas Adams, British writer, (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

General Douglas MacArthur leaves Bataan for Australia.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes the Lend-Lease Act which authorizes the act of giving war supplies to the Allies.

The German Air Force becomes an official organ of the Reich.

President Howard Taft becomes the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

Ralph David Abernathy, civil rights leader, associate of Dr. King.

Lawrence Welk, orchestra leader.

President Teddy Roosevelt induces California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.

The Parisian subway is officially inaugurated.