Today in History

US military ends its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allows gay men and women to serve openly.

A truck loaded with explosives detonates by Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 45 and injuring 226.

US Pres. George W. Bush, addressing a joint session of Congress, declares a “war on terror.”.

British MI6 Secret intelligence Service building in London attacked by unidentified group using RPG-22 anti-tank missile.

South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia in the former Soviet Union.

Australia introduces a capital gains tax.

Suicide car bomber attacks US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22.

Socialist Republic of Vietnam admitted to the United Nations.

In a pro tennis bout dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes,” Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in Texas.

Hurricane Irene becomes the first hurricane known to cross from the Atlantic to Pacific, where it is renamed Hurricane Olivia.

Kristen Johnston, actress; won two Emmy Awards as Sally Solomon in 3rd Rock from the Sun TV series.

Scientists confirm that DNA holds hereditary data.

Dale Chihuly, sculptor known for his unique creations in blown glass.

Sofia Loren (Sofia Scicolone), first actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for a performance in a non-English language film (Two Women); received Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements (1995).

Jay Ward, creator and producer of animated TV cartoons (Rocky & His Friends, renamed The Bullwinkle Show; George of the Jungle).

Arnold “Red” Auerbach, second most wins basketball coach in history with 1,037 victories for the Boston Celtics.

Lamine Gueye, Senegalese political leader.

Ferdinand La Menthe (Jelly Roll Morton), jazz pianist, composer and singer, one of the first to orchestrate jazz music.

Maxwell Perkins, editor, the first to publish F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe.

Upton Sinclair, author best known today for The Jungle.

Union troops under George Thomas prevent the Union defeat at Chickamauga from becoming a rout, earning him the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga.”

The Allies defeat the Russians at the Battle of Alma on the Crimean Peninsula.

The slave trade is abolished in the District of Columbia.

Lord James Dewar, physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first smokeless powder.

Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke), humorist whose work was enjoyed by Abraham Lincoln.

The National Negro Convention convenes in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing slavery.

Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pass the French village of La Charette, the first white settlement they have seen in more than two years.

Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets.

After a two-year siege, the Spanish retake Ostend, the Netherlands, from the Dutch.

Pedro Menendez of Spain wipes out the French at Fort Caroline, in Florida.

Queen Elizabeth of England signs a treaty at Hampton Court with French Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde. The English will occupy Le Havre in return for aiding Bourbon against the Catholics of France.

Ferdinand Magellan embarks from Spain on a voyage to circumnavigate the world.

The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals creates a great schism in the Catholic church.

Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history’s first decisive naval victories over Xerxes‘ Persian force off Salamis.