Today in History

The Church of England ordains women priests.

The United States and the Soviet Union begin arms control talks in Geneva.

Lebanese President Gemayel opens the second meeting in five years calling for the end to nine-years of war.

The U.S. House of Representatives joins the Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.

Patricia Hampl, poet and memoirist (A Romantic Education, Virgin Time).

Diarist Anne Frank dies in a German concentration camp.

Great Britain bars all travel to neutral Ireland, which is suspected of collaborating with Nazi Germany.

Pius XII is elected the new pope in Rome.

German troops enter Austria without firing a shot, forming the anschluss (union) of Austria and Germany.

President Roosevelt makes the first of his Sunday evening fireside chats.

Gandhi begins his march to the sea to symbolizes his defiance of British rule in India.

Edward Albee, American dramatist (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf).

Jack Kerouac, American novelist (On the Road).

Russian troops mutiny as the “February Revolution” begins.

Juliet Low founds the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia.

Dr. Fletcher of the Rockefeller Institute discovers the cause of infantile paralysis.

British Parliament increases naval appropriations for Great Britain.

The Czar of Russia issues a decree providing for nominal freedom of religion throughout the land.

Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.

Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian ballet dancer.

Mississippi establishes the first U.S. state college for women.

The British Zulu War begins.

President Jefferson Davis delivers his State of the Confederacy address.

Jane Delano, nurse, teacher, founder of the Red Cross.

Adolph Simon Ochs, publisher of The New York Times.

Great Britain signs a treaty with Persia forcing the French out of the country.

The United States Post Office is established.

New Jersey becomes a British colony.

The Bermuda Islands become an English colony.

Richard Hooker, English theologian (Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity).

Cesare Borgia dies while fighting alongside his brother, the king of Navarre, in Spain.

The Jews are expelled from Syria.