Today in History

Infanta Leonor of Spain, second in line of succession to the Spanish throne.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Andrew Fastow convicted on 78 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and wire fraud; the Enron collapse cost investors millions and led to new oversight legislation.

Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station.

EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.

Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard.

Saigon begins the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW’s.

The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States.

Larry Mullen Jr., musician; drummer for U2 band.

The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

Antonio Taguba, retired US Army major general best known for authoring the Taguba Report on abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; Taguba is the second American citizen of Philippine birth to reach the rank of general in the US Army.

David Ogden Stiers, actor; best known for his role as stuffy Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H* TV series (1977–1983).

After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed.

Tom Paxton, folk singer, songwriter, musician; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2009).

Michael Landon, actor (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie TV series).

Dan Rather, journalist; anchor of CBS Evening News (1981–2005).

Michael Collins, U.S. astronaut.

Charles Moore, influential post-modern architect.

William H. McNeil, historian (The Rise of the West).

Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, journalist and short story writer.

Ethel Waters, actress and blues singer.

Chiang Kai-Shek, Chinese Nationalist.

Nevada becomes the 36th state.

Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts.

A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children.

Congress ratifies the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, adding territory to the U.S. which will eventually become 13 more states.

Benoit Fourneyron, inventor of the water turbine.

John Keats, poet.

Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther’s theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe.