Today in History

Election Day in the US ends with the winner between presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore still undecided.

The world’s first internet radio broadcast originates from WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mary Robinson becomes the first woman elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

Douglas Wilder wins Virginia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first elected African American governor in the US; during Reconstruction Mississippi had an acting governor and Louisiana had an appointed governor who were black.

A bomb explodes in the US Capitol’s Senate Chambers area, causing $250,000 damages but no one is harmed; a group calling itself the Armed Resistance Unit claimed the bomb was retaliation for US military involvement in Grenada and Lebanon.

A uprising in Bangladesh kills Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf and frees Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman, future president of the country, from house arrest.

Congress overrides Pres. Richard M. Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Resolution that limited presidential power to wage ware without congressional approval.

President Richard Nixon is re-elected.

Robin Finck, musician; guitarist with bands Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

UN General Assembly calls for France, Israel and the UK to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.

Alexa Canady, first female African-American neurosurgeon.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a fourth term by defeating Thomas Dewey.