Today in History

Australia’s voters reject a referendum to make the country a republic with a president appointed by Parliament.

The Rova of Antananarivo, home of Madagascar’s sovereigns from the 16th to the 19th centuries, is destroyed by fire.

Emma Stone, actress (Zombieland, Spiderman).

The Iran arms-for-hostages deal is revealed, damaging the Reagan administration.

Guerrillas of the leftist 19th of April Movement seize Colombia’s Palace of Justice in Bogata; during the two-day siege and the military assault to retake the building over 100 people are killed, including 11 of the 25 Supreme Court justices.

Pat Tillman, professional football player who ended his career to enlist in the US Army in the aftermath of the 9 / 11 attacks; he was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, Apr. 22, 2004.

Coleman Young becomes the first African-American mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

Maria Shriver, journalist, author; First Lady of California while married to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Glenn Frey, singer, songwriter, musician; a founding member of the band Eagles.

Sally Field, actress; won Academy Award for Best Actress in 1979 (Norma Rae) and 1984 (Places in the Heart); won 3 Emmys for work in television.

The first landing of a jet on a carrier takes place on USS Wake Island when an FR-1 Fireball touches down.

Guy Clark, Texas country-folk singer, songwriter (“Desperados Waiting for a Train,” “Texas 1947”).

Mike Nichols, film and stage director (The Graduate).

As European inflation soars, one loaf of bread in Berlin is reported to be worth about 140 billion German marks.

James Jones, American novelist (From Here to Eternity).

The Bolshevik “October Revolution” (October 25 on the old Russian calendar), led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, seizes power in Petrograd.

Maine becomes a dry state.

Harold Ross, New Yorker editor.

Comanche, the only 7th Cavalry horse to survive George Armstrong Custer’s “Last Stand” at the Little Bighorn, dies at Fort Riley, Kansas.

Walter Johnson, baseball pitcher, “The Big Train.”

A Union force surrounds and scatters defending Confederates at the Battle of Droop Mountain, in West Virginia.

James Naismith, Canadian physical education instructor who, in 1891, invented the game of basketball.

Abraham Lincoln is elected 16th president of the United States.

John Philip Sousa, “The March Master,” American bandmaster and composer. Among his 140 marches are “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.”

Charles Henry Dow, American financial journalist who (with Edward D. Jones) inaugurated the Dow-Jones averages.

Adolphe Sax, instrument maker and inventor of the saxophone.

The first winter snow falls on the French Army as Napoleon Bonaparte retreats form Moscow.

Henry VI is crowned King of England.