Today in History

US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy jointly accuse Iran of building a secrecy nuclear enrichment facility.

China launches Shenzhou 7 spacecraft; crew performs China’s first extra-vehicular activity (EVA).

Ireland’s last Magdalene laundry closes; begun as asylums to rehabilitate “fallen women,” they increasingly took on prison-like qualities.

NASA launches Mars Observer probe; it fails 11 months later.

Maze Prison escape, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; 38 IRA prisoners escape in the largest prison breakout in British history; known among Irish republicans as the Great Escape.

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice, is sworn in.

Scientists warn that continued use of aerosol sprays will cause ozone depletion, which will lead to an increased risk of skin cancer and global weather changes.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, actress (The Darling Buds of May British TV series) won Academy Award and BAFTA Award for her role in Chicago.

Will Smith, rapper (known as The Fresh Prince, “Getting’ Jiggy Wit It”), actor, producer; awards include four Grammys.

Scottie Pippen, pro basketball player (Chicago Bulls), played important role in Bull’s record 72-win season (1995-96).

Maria Doyle Kennedy, actress (The Tudors), composer, singer, songwriter, musician.

Heather Locklear, actress (Dynasty, Melrose Place, Spin City TV series).

President Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev begin Camp David talks.

Kim Thompson, editor, publisher; co-founder of Fantagraphics Books.

Mark Hamill actor, voice actor, producer, director, writer (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars; voice of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series).

Michael Douglas, actor, producer; his numerous awards include two Academy Awards (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Wall Street), four Golden Globes and the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Robert Gates, director of CIA under Pres. George H.W. Bush; Secretary of Defense (2006-11).

The War Labor Board orders equal pay for women in the United States.

President Franklin Roosevelt urges negotiations between Hitler and Czech President Edvard Benes over the Sudetenland.

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler meets with Italian Premier Benito Mussolini in Munich.

Juliet Prowse, dancer whose career spanned four decades and included work in stage, film and TV productions; (Can-Can; G.I Blues; Mona McCluskey TV series).

Ian Tyson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer; performed with Ian & Sylvia and Great Speckled Bird.

Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez, 1st Duke of Suarez, Grandee of Spain, Spain’s first democratically elected prime minister following Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

Barbara Walters, television news personality and interviewer.

Brazil declares war on Austria.

An allied offensive is launched in France against the German Army.

The first National Aeronautic Show opens at Madison Square Garden.

Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer.

William Faulkner, Nobel Prize-winning writer (The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!).

Vinnie Ream, who sculpted President Abraham Lincoln from life shortly before he was assassinated.

American General Zachary Taylor’s forces capture Monterey, Mexico.

The 12th Amendment is ratified, changing the procedure of choosing the president and vice-president.

Congress proposes 12 new amendments to the Constitution.

British troops capture Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, when he and a handful of Americans try to invade Canada.

In Sweden, King Sigismund is defeated at Stangebro by his uncle Charles.

The last great Christian crusade, led jointly by John the Fearless of Nevers and King Sigismund of Hungary, ends in disaster at the hands of Sultan Bayezid I’s Ottoman army at Nicopolis.