Today in History

Jean Paul Akayesu, former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, found guilty of nine counts of genocide by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The Philippine government and Muslim rebels sign a pact, formally ending a 26-year long insurgency.

The US and Russia agree to a joint venture to build a space station.

Joseph W. Hatcher of Tallahassee, Florida, becomes the state’s first African-American supreme court justice since Reconstruction.

NASA cancels two planned missions to the moon.

Keanu Reeves, actor (Speed, The Matrix trilogy).

The US gets its first half-hour TV weeknight national news broadcast when CBS Evening News expands from 15 to 30 minutes.

Tennessee National Guardsmen halt rioters protesting the admission of 12 African-Americans to schools in Clinton.

Jimmy Connors, former World No. 1 tennis player; reached more Grand Slam quarterfinals than any other male.

Mark Harmon, actor (St. Elsewhere, NCIS TV series).

Terry Bradshaw, athlete, TV sports analyst, actor; first quarterback to win four Super Bowls (Pittsburgh Steelers); Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dan White, politician; assassinated San Francisco mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Vietnam declares its independence and Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaims himself its first president.

Troops of the U.S. First Army enter Belgium.

Austro-German armies take Grodno, Poland.

Alice Stebbins Wells is admitted to the Los Angeles Police Force as the first woman police officer to receive an appointment based on a civil service exam.

Adolph Rupp, basketball coach at the University of Kentucky who achieved a record 876 victories.

Sir Herbert Kitchener leads the British to victory over the Mahdists at Omdurman and takes Khartoum.

In Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, 28 Chinese laborers are killed and hundreds more chased out of town by striking coal miners.

Frederick Soddy, named an isotope and received 1921 Nobel prize for chemistry.

Napoleon III capitulates to the Prussians at Sedan, France.

Eugene Field, poet and journalist.

Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani, last sovereign before annexation of Hawaii by the United States.

The Maltese people revolt against the French occupation, forcing the French troops to take refuge in the citadel of Valletta in Malta.

Verdun, France, surrenders to the Prussian Army.

The Treasury Department, headed by Alexander Hamilton, is created in New York City.

The Great Fire of London, which devastates the city, begins.