Today in History

A fire at a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills over 110 people.

Ireland votes 50.28% to 49.72% to end its 70-year-old ban on divorce.

US Congress passes the Brady Bill requiring a 5-day waiting period for handgun sales; the bill is named for Pres. Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was left partially paralyzed by a bullet during an assassination attempt on Reagan.

The United States admits that thousands of troops in Vietnam were exposed to the toxic Agent Orange.

Greece announces the discovery of the tomb of King Philip II, father of Alexander the Great.

Jack Ruby fatally shoots the accused assassin of President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, in the garage of the Dallas Police Department.

The United Nations adopts bans on nuclear arms over American protests.

UN troops begin an assault into the rest of North Korea, hoping to end the Korean War by Christmas.

Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded Monica Lewinsky’s confidential phone calls about Lewinsky’s affair with then-President Bill Clinton.

Spider Robinson, Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction author (Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon; Melancholy Elephants); received Robert A. Heinlein Award for lifetime achievement in 2008.

Ted Bundy, serial killer; he confessed to 30 murders between 1974-78, but the total could be much higher.

American B-29s flying from Saipan bomb Tokyo.

In Czechoslovakia, the Gestapo execute 120 students who are accused of anti-Nazi plotting.

Mexico seizes oil land adjacent to Texas.

Federal officials battle 1,200 inmates after prisoners in Folsom Prison revolt.

William F. Buckley, Jr., journalist, founder of National Review.

Garson Kanin, writer and director (Born Yesterday).

The first Congress of Professional Photographers convenes in Paris.

Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Margaret Anderson, editor, founder of The Little Review.

Joseph Glidden receives a patent for barbed wire.

Scott Joplin, composer.

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, French post-impressionist painter.

In the Battle Above the Clouds, Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s forces take Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Cass Gilbert, architect.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden.

Carlo Collodi, the creator of Pinocchio.

Zachary Taylor, general during the Mexican War, 12th President of the United States.

The English defeat the Scots at the Battle of Solway Moss in England.