Today in History

North Korea and the US sign an agreement requiring North Korea to halts its nuclear weapons program and agree to international inspections.

The United States sends a ten-ship task force to Grenada.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan resigns over disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policies related to the Palestinians.

Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain; presently (2013) First Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Supreme Commander, he is heir apparent to the Bahrain kingdom.

The “March on the Pentagon,” protesting American involvement in Vietnam , draws 50,000 protesters.

Bob Dylan records his first album in a single day at a cost of $400.

The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in Manhattan.

Carrie Fisher, actress, author, screenwriter; best known as Prince Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy and he bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge; daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds.

Patti Davis, actress, author; daughter of former US Pres. Ronald Reagan.

Ronald McNair, astronaut; died when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch on Jan. 2, 1986.

Eight American and British officers land from a submarine on an Algerian beach to take measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings.

Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.

As war heats up with Germany, the British war cabinet holds its first meeting in the underground war room in London.

Carl Brewer, Canadian hockey player; won three Stanley Cups (1962-64) as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Ursula K. Le Guin, science fiction writer (The Left Hand of Darkness)

Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter.

Panamanians clash with U.S. Marines in Panama in a brief uprising.

After 14 months of testing, Thomas Edison first demonstrates his electric lamp, hoping to one day compete with gaslight.

The U.S. Naval Academy admits John H. Conyers, the first African American to be accepted.

Many leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache sign a peace treaty at Medicine Lodge, Kan. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker refused to accept the treaty terms.

The Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Va. begins, a disastrous Union defeat which sparks Congressional investigations.

Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops siege the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida.

Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes.

Vice Admiral and Viscount Horatio Nelson wins his greatest victory over a Franco-Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. Nelson is fatally wounded in the battle, but lives long enough to see victory.

The Tricolor is chosen as the official flag of France.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Kubla Khan”).

Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese printmaker.

Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats his enemies in battle and affirms his position as Japan’s most powerful warlord.

The Pope names Henry VIII of England Defender of the Faith after defending the seven sacraments against Luther.

Seljuk Turks at Chivitot slaughter thousands of German crusaders.