Today in History

US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to planned or actual terrorist acts against the US.

Articles of impeachment passed against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

Hans-Adam II becomes Prince of Liechtenstein (1989– ) upon the death of his father, Franz Joseph II.

Some 23,000 people die when the Nevado del Ruiz erupts, melting a glacier and causing a massive mudslide that buries Armero, Columbia.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington, DC.

A powerful tropical cyclone strikes the Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), causing an estimated half-million deaths in a single night; the Bhola cyclone is regarded as the worst natural disaster of the 20th century.

Anti-war protesters stage a symbolic “March Against Death” in Washington, DC.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously strikes down two Alabama laws requiring racial segregation on public buses.

Whoopi Goldberg,comedian, actress (The Color Purple; Ghost), singer, talk show host (The View); second African American woman to win an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress, Ghost, 1990); one of few entertainers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy.

Harvard’s Paul Zoll becomes the first man to use electric shock to treat cardiac arrest.

Joe Mantegna, actor, producer, director, voice actor (The Godfather Part III; Criminal Minds TV series; voice of mob boss Fat Tony on The Simpsons).

Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France.

Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower flies to Algeria to conclude an agreement with French Admiral Jean Darlan..

A German U-boat, the U-81 torpedoes Great Britain’s premier aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal. The ship sinks the next day.

William Taubman, political scientist, author; won Pulitzer Prize for biography (2004) for his biography of Nikita Khrushchev.

Garry Marshall, actor, director, producer; created Happy Days TV series and its spinoffs.

New York’s Holland Tunnel officially opens for traffic.

Motoo Kimura, Japanese biologist who introduced the neutral theory of molecular evolution (1968).

The brassiere, invented by Caresse Crosby, is patented.

John Jordan “Buck” O’Neill, first African American coach in Major League Baseball; previously, he was a first baseman and manager in the Negro League.

Eugene Ionesco, Romanian-born dramatist; a leading playwright of the Theater of the Absurd genre (The Bald Soprano, Rhinoceros).

Paul Corno achieves the first helicopter flight.

The first metal dirigible is flown from Tempelhof Field in Berlin.

New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace offers amnesty to many participants of the Lincoln County War, but not to gunfighter Billy the Kid.

Lewis Carroll writes in his diary, “Began writing the fairy-tale of Alice–I hope to finish it by Christmas.”

South Carolina’s legislature calls a special convention to discuss secession from the Union.

Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The London-to-Paris telegraph begins operation.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and poet (Treasure Island, Kidnapped).

Texans officially proclaim independence from Mexico, and calls itself the Lone Star Republic, after its flag, until its admission to the Union in 1845.

In the Swiss-Burgundian Wars, Swiss infantry shatters the army of Charles the Bold at Hericourt near Belfort, countering his march to Lorraine.

Edward III, King of England who won victories against such renowned foes as Baybars, Llewellyn and Wallace.

Saint Augustine, Christian theologian and philosopher.