Today in History

Yves Rossy, a Swiss pilot and inventor, is the first person to fly a jet-powered wing across the English Channel.

Two earthquakes strike Italy, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis to collapse, killing four people and destroying much of the cycle of frescoes depicting the saint’s life.

The UK agrees to transfer sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.

In the USSR Stanislav Petrov disobeys procedures and ignores electronic alarms indicating five incoming nuclear missiles, believing the US would launch more than five if it wanted to start a war. His decision prevented a retaliatory attack that would have begun a nuclear war between the superpowers..

Israel announces a cease-fire on Lebanese border.

Richard M. Nixon meets with Emperor Hirohito in Anchorage, Alaska, the first-ever meeting of a U.S. President and a Japanese Monarch.

David Slade, director (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night).

Hanoi rejects a U.S. peace proposal.

Nineteen-year-old Bob Dylan makes his New York singing debut at Gerde’s Folk City.

Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy participate in the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates.

Carlene Carter, country-rock singer, songwriter, musician; daughter of June Carter, stepdaughter of Johnny Cash (“Keep It Out of Sight,” “Cool Reaction”).

Dolores Keane, Irish folk singer; founding member of band De Dannan.

General Douglas MacArthur‘s American X Corps, fresh from the Inchon landing, links up with the U.S. Eighth Army after its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter.

Jane Smiley, novelist (A Thousand Acres, Moo).

The U.S. Army establishes the Military Police Corps.

During the London Blitz, the underground Cabinet War Room suffers a hit when a bomb explodes on the Clive Steps.

Bessie Smith, known as the ‘Empress of the Blues,’ dies in a car crash in Mississippi.

German Ace Ernst Udet shoots down two Allied planes, bringing his total for the war up to 62.

The Federal Trade Commission is established to foster competition by preventing monopolies in business.

The first boat is raised in the locks of the Panama Canal.

Leon Czolgosz, who murdered President William McKinley, is sentenced to death..

George Gershwin, composer who wrote many popular songs for musicals, along with his brother Ira.

T.S. Eliot, poet, critic, and dramatist whose work includes The Waste Land and Murder in the Cathedral.

Barnes Wallis, British aeronautical engineer who invented the “Bouncing Bombs” used to destroy German dams during World War II.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men assault a Federal garrison near Pulaski, Tennessee.

Scotland Yard, the official British criminal investigation organization, is formed.

The Persian cavalry is routed by the Russians at the Battle of Ganja in the Russian Caucasus.

The legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone dies quietly at the Defiance, Mo., home of his son Nathan, at age 85.

France and Britain sign a trade agreement in London.

Jane Taylor, children’s writer best known as the author of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

The British army launches a major offensive, capturing Philadelphia.

Sir Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, aboard the Golden Hind, after a 33-month voyage to circumnavigate the globe.