Today in History

Armed forces of the Philippines besiege The Peninsula Manila in response to a mutiny led by Senator Antonio Trillanes.

Sarah Jones, Tony and Obie award-winning playwright, actress, poet (Bridge & Tunnel).

Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.

US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Chief Justice Earl Warren head of a commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Algeria bans the Communist Party.

NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos into Earth orbit.

Janet Napolitano, politician, lawyer; first woman to serve as US Secretary of Homeland Security (2009-2013).

Howard “Howie” Mandel, Canadian comedian, actor (St. Elsewhere), TV host (Deal or No Deal game show), voice actor (Bobby’s World); judge on America’s Got Talent TV show.

The United States announces it will conduct atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

The popular children’s television show, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, premieres.

Ann Dunham, mother of Barack Obama, 44th President of the US; she was an anthropologist specializing in economic anthropology and rural development.

Chuck Mangione, jazz musician, composer (“Feels So Good”).

Soviet planes bomb an airfield at Helsinki, Finland.

John Mayall, singer, songwriter, musician; founder of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers band.

Jacques Chirac, politician; President of France (1995–2007).

The Spanish government seizes large estates for land redistribution.

Commander Richard Byrd makes the first flight over the South Pole.

An international commission headed by American banker Charles Dawes is set up to investigate the German economy.

Dagmar (Virginia Ruth Egnor) actress, model, television personality (Dagmar’s Canteen, Broadway Open House).

Joe Weider, Canadian-American bodybuilder and magazine publisher; co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness and Muscle & Fitness magazine.

Madeleine L’Engle, writer (A Wrinkle in Time).

Konrad Fuchs, German atomic physicist.

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., politician and Civil Rights leader.

An Inquiry into the U.S. Postal Service demonstrates the government has lost millions in fraud.

Mildred Elizabeth Sisk, aka Axis Sally, Nazi propagandist.

C.S. Lewis, Christian writer.

Busby Berkeley, director (42nd Street).

Colonel John M. Chivington’s 3rd Colorado Volunteers massacre Black Kettles’ camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colo.

The Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., ends with a Confederate withdrawal.

Louisa May Alcott, novelist (Little Women).

The last elements of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armee retreats across the Beresina River in Russia.

Christian Doppler, best known for his explanation of perceived frequency variation of sound and light waves, known as the Doppler effect.

Louis XVI promulgates an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.

Major Roger Rogers takes possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain.