Today in History

Albania offers a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years.

President Jimmy Carter deregulates the banking industry.

U.S. forces in Vietnam down a MIG-21, the first since September 1968.

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution.

An estimated 200,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City.

The South African government declares a state of emergency after demonstrations lead to the deaths of more than 50 Africans.

The siege of Dien Bien Phu, the last French outpost in Vietnam, begins after the Viet Minh realize it cannot be taken by direct assault.

Winston Churchill declares that the A-bomb was the only thing that kept the Soviet Union from taking over Europe.

Al Gore, Vice President to President William J. Clinton (1993-2001).

The United States and Britain bar a Soviet supported provisional regime in Warsaw from entering the U.N. meeting in San Francisco.

Germany begins a counter offensive in North Africa.

La Guardia airport in New York officially opens to the public.

Britain and France agree to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade.

Marge Piercy, poet and novelist.