the day in the history

1978: Gunman runs amok in West Midlands

Four people have been killed and four others seriously wounded after a gunman opened fire at two separate locations in the Midlands.

Officers guard the scene of the bomb 1982: RUC officers killed by IRA bomb
Three RUC officers have been killed by a bomb, planted by IRA terrorists, which exploded beneath their armoured police car.

Photo of protestors outside American Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London 1968: Police clash with anti-war protesters
Trouble has flared in Grosvenor Square, London, after an estimated 6,000 marchers faced up to police outside the US Embassy.

1977: Liberal MP denies murder plot
Jeremy Thorpe denies murder plot and homosexual relations with former male model, Norman Scott.

Bruno Pontecorvo 1950: Hunt for missing Harwell scientist
MI5 is brought into the hunt for the missing Harwell atomic scientist Bruno Pontecorvo who disappeared seven weeks ago.

1659 - William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson became the first Quakers to be executed in America.

1787 - The first of the Federalist Papers were published in the New York Independent. The series of 85 essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published under the pen name "Publius."

1795 - The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo. The treaty is also known as "Pinckney's Treaty."

1858 - Roland Macy opened Macy's Department Store in New York City. It was Macy's eighth business adventure, the other seven failed.

1878 - The Manhattan Savings Bank in New York City was robbed of over $3,000,000. The robbery was credited to George "Western" Leslie even though there was not enough evidence to convict him, only two of his associates were convicted.

1880 - Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Lee.

1904 - The New York subway system officially opened. It was the first rapid-transit subway system in America.

1925 - Fred Waller received a patent for water skis.

1927 - The first newsreel featuring sound was released in New York.

1931 - Chuhei Numbu of Japan set a long jump record at 26' 2 1/4".

1938 - Du Pont announced "nylon" as the new name for its new synthetic yarn.

1947 - "You Bet Your Life," the radio show starring Grouch Marx, premiered on ABC. It was later shown on NBC television.

1954 - Marilyn Monrow and Joe DiMaggio were divorced. They had been married on January 14, 1954.

1954 - The first Walt Disney television show "Disneyland" premiered on ABC.

1962 - The Soviet Union adds to the Cuban Missile Crisis by calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile basis in Turkey. U.S. President Kennedy agreed to the new aspect of the agreement.

1978 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.

1994 - The U.S. Justice Department announced that the U.S. prison population had exceeded one million for the first time in American history.

1997 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 554.26 points. The stock market was shut down for the first time since the 1981 assassination attempt on U.S. President Reagan.

1998 - The reunion episode "CHiPs '99" aired for the first time on the cable network TNT.

1998 - A car bomb exploded in the car of a Palestinian leader Mahmoud Majzoub. Majzoub, his wife, and his nine-month-old son, and a passerby were injured in the blast.

1998 - Two boats hit head-on in India. One of the boats suffered no damage. The other sank and 60 people were missing.

1999 - Armenia's Prime Minister and seven other government officials were killed during a parliamentary session. It was the believed that the gunmen were staging a coup.


2003 - Bank of America Corp. announced it had agreed to buy FleetBoston Financial Corp. The deal created the second largest banking company in the U.S.

1962: World relief as Cuban missile crisis ends

US President John F Kennedy welcomes Russia's announcement that it will dismantle its missiles based in Cuba.

Pakistani police guard a Catholic church in Rawalpindi 2001: Christians killed in Pakistan massacre
Masked gunmen burst into a church in eastern Pakistan killing 18 people including children who were at prayer.

Sports Minister Denis Howell 1974: Minister's wife survives bomb attack
Sports Minister Denis Howell's wife and young son survive a bomb attack on their car.

Jeremy Bamber (second left) 1986: 'Evil' Bamber jailed for family murders
A 24-year-old Essex man is sentenced to life for killing five members of his family, including his two young nephews.

1636 - Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts. The original name was Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was the first school of higher education in America.

1776 - The Battle of White Plains took place during the American Revolutionary War.

1793 - Eli Whitney applied for a patent for his cotton gin.

1886 - The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Cleveland. The statue weighs 225 tons and is 152 feet tall.

1904 - The St. Louis Police Department became the first to use fingerprinting.

1919 - The U.S. Congress enacted the Volstead Act also known as the National Prohibition Act. Prohibition was repealed in 1933 with the passing of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1922 - Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government and introduced fascism to Italy.

1936 - The Statue of Liberty was rededicated by U.S. President Roosevelt on its 50th anniversary.

1940 - During World War II, Italy invaded Greece.

1949 - U.S. President Harry Truman swore in Eugenie Moore Anderson as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark. Anderson was the first woman to hold the post of ambassador.

1958 - Angleo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected Pope. He took the name John XXIII.

1962 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

1965 - Pope Paul VI issued a decree absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

1965 - The Gateway Arch along the waterfront in St. Louis, MO, was completed.

1976 - John D. Erlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, AZ, to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions.

1983 - The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution "deeply deploring" the ongoing U.S.-led invasion of Grenada.

1984 - The New York City Marathon was marred by its first fatality when a French runner who collapsed and died.

1985 - John A. Walker Jr. and his son, Michael Lance Walker, pled guilty to charges of spying for the Soviet Union.

1986 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated in New York.

1988 - Roussel Uclaf, a French manufacturer that produces the abortion pill RU486, announced it would resume distribution of the drug after the government of France demanded it do so.

1990 - Iraq announced that it was halting gasoline rationing.

1993 - Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, called for a complete blockade of Haiti to force out the military leaders.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton visited Kuwait and implied that all the troops there would be home by Christmas.

1996 - The Dow Jones Industial Average gained a record 337.17 points (or 5%). The day before the Dow had dropped 554.26 points (or 7%).

1998 - An Air China jet was hijacked and flown to Taiwan by pilot Yuan Bin. He was upset with his pay and working conditions. The plane arrived safely and Yuan Bin was taken into custody.

1999: Super-cyclone wreaks havoc in India

A massive cyclone sweeps through the state of Orissa in eastern India, killing an unknown number of people and leaving thousands homeless.

Nelson Mandela with the TRC report 1998: Apartheid report accuses SA leaders
The long-awaited report by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has accused leading figures from across the political spectrum of human rights violations.

General Franco 1975: Franco's 36-year reign ends
General Franco's dictatorship is effectively ended with the announcement heir designate Prince Carlos will take over as provisional head of state.

'Dingoes are wild' warning sign at Ayers Rock 1982: Mother jailed in dingo baby murder
Lindy Chamberlain is found guilty of the murder of her nine-week-old daughter after a jury dismisses her claim that a dingo took the baby.

Iain Duncan Smith 2003: Tory Party leader resigns
The Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, resigns after failing to win the backing of his fellow MPs.

1965: Slow progress at Rhodesia talks
Prime Minister Harold Wilson makes little headway in a final effort to persuade Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to drop his plans for independence.

1976: Duchess opens Selby coalfield
The Duchess of Kent has opened the first coalfield to be developed in 70 years.

1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded under a sentence that had been brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I.

1652 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed itself to be an independent commonwealth.

1682 - William Penn landed at what is now Chester, PA. He was the founder of Pennsylvania.

1863 - The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded.

1901 - Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President McKinley, was electrocuted.

1911 - American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer died.

1923 - Turkey formally became a republic after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The first president was Mustafa Kemal, later known as Kemal Ataturk.

1929 - America's Great Depression began with the crash of the Wall Street stock market.

1940 - The first peacetime military draft began in the U.S.

1945 - The first ballpoint pens to be made commercially went on sale at Gimbels Department Store in New York at the price of $12.50 each.

1956 - Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during the Suez Canal Crisis.

1956 - "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered on NBC.

1959 - General Mills became the first corporation to use close-circuit television.

1960 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) won his first professional fight.

1964 - Three men stole the star of India and other gems from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The men were later convicted.

1966 - The National Organization for Women was founded.

1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered an immediate end to all school desegregation.

1973 - O.J. Simpson, of the Buffalo Bills, set two NFL records. He carried the ball 39 times and he ran 157 yards putting him over 1,000 yards at the seventh game of the season.

1974 - U.S. President Gerald Ford signed a new law forbidding discrimination in credit applications on the basis of sex or marital status

1985 - It was announced that Maj. Gen. Samuel K. Doe had won the first multiparty election in Liberia.

1989 - A public mourning, involving over 20,000 East Berliners, was observed with a minute of silence for the people who had been killed while trying to flee over the Berlin Wall.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to hold Saddam Hussein's regime liable for human rights abuses and war damages during its occupation of Kuwait.

1991 - The U.S. Galileo spacecraft became the first to visit an asteroid (Gaspra).

1991 - Trade sanctions were imposed on Haiti by the U.S. to pressure the new leaders to restore the ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

1992 - Depo Provera, a contraceptive, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

1993 - A group of U.S. athletes were attacked by skinheads in Germany.

1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots at the White House while standing on Pennsylvania Ave. Duran was later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Clinton.

1995 - Palestinians swore revenge for the assassination of Dr. Fathi Shakaki.

1995 - Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers became the NFL's career leader in receiving yards with 14,040 yards.

1996 - An auction was held to sell the artwork that had been stolen by the Nazis during the German occupation of Austria during World War II.

1998 - South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission condemned both apartheid and violence committed by the African National Congress.

1998 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with John Glenn on board. Glenn was 77 years old. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

1998 - A Turkish Airlines flight was hijacked and ordered to fly to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. The plane had 39 people on board.

1998 - In Freehold, NJ, Melissa Drexler was sentenced to 15 years in prison for strangling her baby after giving birth in the bathroom at her senior prom.

1998 - In London, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman accepted a substantial settlement from the Express Newspapers for an article that was run on October 5, 1997. The article claimed that both were homosexual and their marriage was a sham to cover the truth.

1998 - James Orr was sentenced to 3 years probation and ordered to do 100 hours of community service for slamming Farrah Fawcett's head to the ground and choking her during a fight.

1998 - A dance hall in Goteborg, Sweden, was gutted with fire killing 60 people. 173 were also injured in the fire.

1998 - The oldest known copy of Archimedes' work sold for $2 million at a New York auction.

2001 - KTLA broadcasted the first coast to coast HDTV network telecast.

1991: Bush opens historic Mid East peace conference

US President George Bush encourages Arabs and Israelis to "lay down the past" in his opening speech to the Middle East peace conference in Spain.

Nicholas Reed 1981: Euthanasia chief jailed over suicides
The secretary of the UK's pro-euthanasia group Exit is sentenced to two and a half years for aiding and abetting suicide.

Houses of Parliament 1957: Lords to admit first women peers
The Government reveals details of plans to reform the House of Lords which include creating the first women life peerages.

Kew Observatory 1961: World condemns Russia's nuclear test
Russia explodes biggest ever nuclear device provoking wide-spread condemnation from around the world.

1735 - John Adams, the second President of the United States, was born in Braintree, MA. His son became the sixth President of the U.S.

1817 - The independent government of Venezuela was established by Simon Bolivar.

1831 - Escaped slave Nat Turner was apprehended in Southampton County, VA, several weeks after leading the bloodiest slave uprising in American history.

1875 - The constitution of Missouri was ratified by popular vote.

1893 - The U.S. Senate gave final approval to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.

1894 - The time clock was patented by Daniel M. Cooper of Rochester, NY.

1938 - Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" aired on CBS radio. The belief that the broadcast was a live news event caused panic among listeners.

1944 - The ballet "Appalachian Spring" premiered at the Library of Congress.

1945 - The U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing.

1961 - The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force of approximately 58 megatons.

1961 - The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved an order to remove Joseph Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

1972 - U.S. President Richard Nixon approved legislation to increase Social Security spending by $5.3 billion.

1972 - In Illinois, 45 people were killed when two trains collided on Chicago's south side.

1975 - Prince Juan Carlos assumed power in Spain as dictator Francisco Franco was near death.

1984 - In Poland, police found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerry Popieluszko. His death was blamed on four security officers.

1989 - Mitsubishi Estate Company announced it was buying 51 percent of Rockefeller Group Inc. of New York.

1990 - Tunnelers met under the English Channel and connected England to France. The plan called for north and south bound rails and a service tunnel.

1993 - Martin Fettman, America's first veterinarian in space, performed the world's first animal dissections in space, while aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

1993 - The United Nations deadline concerning ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide passed with country's military still in control.

1995 - Federalist prevailed over separatists in Quebec in a referendum concerning secession from the federation of Canada.

1997 - The play revival "The Cherry Orchard" opened.

1998 - The terrorist who hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane and the 39 people on board was killed when anti-terrorist squads raided the plane.

2001 - Michael Jordan returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards after a 3 1/2 year retirement. The Wizards lost 93-91 to the New York Knicks.

1984: Indian prime minister shot dead

Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, is killed by two assassins believed to be her own bodyguards.

Group Captain Peter Townsend 1955: Princess Margaret cancels wedding
Princess Margaret calls off her plans to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend.

1971: Bomb explodes in Post Office tower
A bomb explodes in the Post Office tower causing extensive damage but no injuries.

Louise Woodward in court 1997: British au pair guilty of murder
A Boston jury finds Louise Woodward, 19, guilty of second degree murder for killing the baby in her care.

Mahathir Mohamad 2003: End of Mahathir era in Malaysia
Asia's longest-serving leader, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, steps down after 22 years in power.

1517 - Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace Church.

1860 - Juliette Low, the founder off the Girl Scouts, was born.

1864 - Nevada became the 36th state to join the U.S.

1868 - Postmaster General Alexander Williams Randall approved a standard uniform for postal carriers.

1887 - Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek was born. He was the first constitutional President of the Republic of China.

1914 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria).

1922 - Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.

1926 - Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.

1940 - The British air victory in the Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading Britain.

1941 - 14 years of work was completed on Mount Rushmore. At the time the 60-foot busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were finished.

1941 - The U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine near Iceland. The U.S. had not yet entered World War II. More than 100 men were killed.

1952 - The U.S. detonated its first hydrogen bomb.

1954 - The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a revolt against French rule.

1955 - Britain's Princess Margaret announced she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend.

1956 - Rear Adm. G.J. Dufek, and his crew, become the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. Dufek also became the first person to set foot on the South Pole.

1959 - Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, TX, announced that he would never return to the U.S. At the time he was in Moscow, Russia.

1961 - In the Soviet Union, the body of Joseph Stalin was removed from Lenin's Tomb where it was on public display.

1968 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.

1983 - The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that during the U.S. led invasion of Grenada, that a U.S. Navy plane had mistakenly bombed a civilian hospital.

1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards. Her son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister.

1992 - In Liberia, it was announced that five American nuns had been killed near Monrovia. Rebels loyal to Charles Taylor were blamed for the murders.

1993 - River Phoenix died at the age of 23 after collapsing outside The Viper Room in Hollywood.

1993 - The play "Wonderful Tennessee" closed after only 9 performances.

1994 - 68 people were killed when an American Eagle ATR-72, plunged into a northern Indiana farm.

1998 - Iraq announced that it was halting all dealings with U.N. arms inspectors. The inspectors were investigating the country's weapons of mass destruction stemming from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the coast of Nantucket, MA, killing all 217 people aboard.

1999 - Leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The event ended a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.

1984: Violence follows Gandhi killing

Rioting breaks out in parts of India following yesterday's assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

US marines helicopter 1966: Viet Cong bombs Saigon
At least eight people are killed including an American officer when Viet Cong artillery shells the South Vietnamese capital.

St Laurent du Pont 1970: Nightclub inferno 'wipes out generation'
A fire at a nightclub in France has killed 142 people, most of them teenagers.

Geoffrey Howe 1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy
The UK's deputy Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, has resigned after disagreements over the government's Europe policy.

1512 - Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public.

1604 - "Othello," the tragedy by William Shakespeare, was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.

1611 - "The Tempest," Shakespeare's romantic comedy, was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.

1755 - At least 60,000 people were killed in Lisbon, Portugal by an earthquake, its aftershocks and the ensuing tsunami.

1765 - The Stamp Act went into effect in the American colonies.

1800 - U.S. President John Adams became the first president to live in the White House when he moved in.

1848 - The first medical school for women, founded by Samuel Gregory, opened in Boston, MA. The Boston Female Medical School later merged with Boston University School of Medicine.

1856 - The first photography magazine, Daguerreian Journal, was published in New York City, NY.

1861 - Gen. George B. McClellan was made the general-in-chief of the American Union armies.

1864 - The U.S. Post Office started selling money orders. The money orders provided a safe way to payments by mail.

1870 - The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.

1879 - Thomas Edison executed his first patent application for a high-resistance carbon filament (U.S. Pat. 223,898).

1894 - "Billboard Advertising" was published for the first time. It later became known as "Billboard."

1894 - Russian Emperor Alexander III died.

1904 - The Army War College in Washington, DC, enrolled the first class.

1911 - Italy used planes to drop bombs on the Tanguira oasis in Libya. It was the first aerial bombing.

1936 - Benito Mussolini made a speech in Milan, Italy, in which he described the alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Berlin and Rome.

1937 - "Hilltop House" was aired for the first time on CBS Radio.

1937 - "Terry and the Pirates" debuted on NBC Radio.

1940 - "A Night in the Tropics" was released. It was the first movie for Abbott and Costello.

1944 - "Harvey," by Mary Chase, opened on Broadway.

1947 - The famous racehorse Man o' War died.

1949 - In Washington, 55 people were killed when a fighter plane hit an airliner.

1950 - Two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman. One of the men was killed when they tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, DC.

1950 - Charles Cooper became the first black man to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

1952 - The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

1954 - Algeria began to rebel against French rule.

1959 - Jacques Plante, of the Montreal Canadiens, became the first goalie in the NHL to wear a mask.

1962 - "The Lucy Show" premiered.

1963 - The USSR launched Polyot I. It was the first satellite capable of maneuvering in all directions and able to change its orbit.

1968 - The movie rating system of G, M, R, X, followed by PG-13 and NC-17 went into effect.

1973 - Leon Jaworski was appointed the new Watergate special prosecutor in the Watergate case.

1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged all Iranians to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand their attacks against the U.S. and Israel. On November 4, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage.

1985 - In the village of Ignacio Aldama, 22 members of a Mexican anti-narcotics squad were killed by alleged drug traffickers.

1987 - Deng Xiaoping retired from China's Communist Party's Central Committee.

1989 - Tens of thousands of refugees to fled to the West when East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia.

1989 - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced the end of a cease-fire with the Contra rebels.

1993 - The European Community's treaty on European unity took effect.

1995 - In Dayton, OH, the Bosnian peace talks opened with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present.

1998 - Nicaraguan Vice President Enrique Bolanos announced that between 1,000 and 1,500 people were buried in a 32-square mile area below the slopes of the Casita volcano in northern Nicaragua by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Mitch.

1998 - Iridium inaugurated the first handheld, global satellite phone and paging system.

Not trying to spoil Thok's wonderful thread, but since he lives in that country ... :wink:

996: Holy Roman Emperor Otto III granted the Bavarian bishopric of Freising 30 "royal hides" (about 8 square km [2,000 acres]) of land in a deed that contained the first recorded use of the name Ostarrîchi, from which the name Austria is derived.

You not spoil this thread.

Thanks for that, which I forgot to added. ;-)

1986: US hostage freed in Beirut

David Jacobsen, an American held hostage in Beirut by Muslim fundamentalists, is released after 17 months in captivity.

Magnus Malan 1995: Ex-minister charged with apartheid murders
The former South African defence minister, General Magnus Malan, is arrested and charged with murder.

Chris Woodhead 2000: Schools watchdog Woodhead resigns
The controversial chief inspector of schools in England, Chris Woodhead, steps down, to the delight of teachers' unions.

Ship in Suez Canal 1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt
The final phase of the largest troop airlift since the war brings reinforcements in to quell unrest in the Canal Zone.

1721 - Peter the Great (Peter I), ruler of Russia, changed his title to emperor.

1724 - American frontiersman, Daniel Boone, was born.

1776 - During the American Revolutionary War, William Demont, became the first traitor of the American Revolution when he deserted.

1783 - U.S. Gen. George Washington gave his "Farewell Address to the Army" near Princeton, NJ.

1867 - "Harpers Bazaar" magazine was founded.

1883 - Thomas Edison executed a patent application for an electrical indicator using the Edison effect lamp (U.S. Pat. 307,031).

1889 - North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted into the union as the 39th and 40th states.

1895 - In Chicago, IL, the first gasoline powered contest took place in America.

1917 - British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed support for a "national home" for the Jews of Palestine.

1920 - The first commercial radio station in the U.S., KDKA of Pittsburgh, PA, began regular broadcasting.

1921 - Margaret Sander's National Birth Control League combined with Mary Ware Denetts Voluntary Parenthood League to form the American Birth Control League.

1930 - Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

1930 - The DuPont Company announced the first synthetic rubber. It was named DuPrene.

1937 - The play "I'd Rather be Right" opened in New York City.

1947 - Howard Hughes flew his "Spruce Goose, a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California.

1948 - Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey for the U.S. presidency. The Chicago Tribune published an early edition that had the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." The Truman victory surprised many polls and newspapers.

1959 - Charles Van Doren, a game show contestant on the NBC-TV program "Twenty-One" admitted that he had been given questions and answers in advance.

1960 - In London, the novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover," was found not guilty of obscenity.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy announced that the U.S.S.R. was dismantling the missile sites in Cuba.

1963 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup.

1966 - The Cuban Adjustment Act allows 123,000 Cubans to apply for permanent residence in the U.S.

1979 - Joanna Chesimard, a black militant escaped from a New Jersey prison, where she'd been serving a life sentence for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper.

1983 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing a federal holiday on the third Monday of January in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1984 - Velma Barfield became the first woman to be executed in the U.S. since 1962. She had been convicted of the poisoning death of her boyfriend.

1985 - The South African government imposed severe restrictions on television, radio and newspaper coverage of unrest by both local and foreign journalists.

1986 - The 12-by-16-inch celluloid of a poison apple from Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"" was purchased for $30,800.

1986 - American hostage David Jacobson was released after being held in Lebanon for 17 months by Shiite Muslims kidnappers.

1989 - Carmen Fasanella retired after 68 years and 243 days of taxicab service in Princeton, NJ.

1992 - Magic Johnson retired from the NBA again, this time for good because of fear due to his HIV infection.

1993 - The U.S. Senate called for full disclosure of Senator Bob Packwood's diaries in a sexual harassment probe.

1993 - Christie Todd Whitman was elected the first woman governor of New Jersey.

1995 - The play "Sacrilege" opened.

1995 - The U.S. expelled Daiwa Bank Ltd. for allegedly covering up $1.1 billion in trading losses.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton gave his first in-depth interview since the White House sex scandal to Black Entertainment Television talk show host and political commentator Tavis Smiley on the network's "BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley."

2001 - The computer-animated movie "Monsters, Inc." opened. The film recorded the best debut ever for an animated film and the 6th best of all time.

2003 - In the U.S., the Episcopal Church diocese consecrated the church's first openly gay bishop.

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!" - "Let them eat cake!"
Marie-Antoinette, the queen consort of King Louis XVI of France (1774-93), was born this day in 1755.

1976 Jimmy Carter elected 39th U.S. president

1964: Election triumph for Lyndon B Johnson

Lyndon B Johnson, who took over after President Kennedy's assassination, is elected president of the US with an overwhelming majority.

Jimmy Carter 1976: Carter wins with 'Trust me' slogan
Jimmy Carter is confirmed as the next President of the United States after a closely-fought contest which gave him 51% of the popular vote.

Laika, the Russian space dog in her capsule 1957: Russians launch dog into space
The Soviet Union sends the first ever living creature into the cosmos aboard Sputnik II.

Queen Elizabeth formally launches production of BP's Forties oil field 1975: North Sea oil begins to flow
The Queen has formally begun the operation of the UK's first oil pipeline at a £500,000 ceremony in Scotland.

1997: Angry truckers blockade French ports
Thousands of lorries are at a standstill in France as striking drivers form roadblocks around the country.

1985: Rainbow warrior plea controversy
Two French secret service agents have dramatically changed their pleas on charges relating to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.

1507 - Leonardo DaVinci was commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the Mona Lisa.

1631 - The Reverend John Eliot arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the first Protestant minister to dedicate himself to the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity.

1793 - Stephen F. Austin was born. He was the principle founder of Texas.

1796 - John Adams was elected the 2nd U.S. President.

1839 - The first Opium War between China and Britain erupted.

1892 - The first automatic telephone went into service at LaPorte, IN. The device was invented by Almon Strowger.

1900 - The first automobile show in the United States opened at New York's Madison Square Garden.

1903 - Panama proclaimed its independence from Columbia.

1934 - The first race track in California opened under a new pari-mutuel betting law.

1941 - Japanese Ambassador John Grew warned that the Japanese may be planning a sudden attack on the U.S.

1952 - Frozen bread was offered for sale for the first time in a supermarket in Chester, NY.

1953 - The Rules Committee of organized baseball restored the sacrifice fly. The rule had not been used since 1939.

1957 - Sputnik II was launched by the Soviet Union. It was the second manmade satellite to be put into orbit and was the first to put an animal into space, a dog named Laika.

1973 - The U.S. launched the Mariner 10 spacecraft. On March 29, 1974 it became the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury.

1975 - "Good Morning America" premiered on ABC-TV.

1979 - Five members of the Communist Workers' Party are shot to death in broad daylight at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in Greensboro, NC. Eight others were wounded.

1986 - The Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran. The story turned into the Iran-Contra affair.

1987 - China told the U.S. that it would halt the sale of arms to Iran.

1991 - Israeli and Palestinian representatives held their first-ever face-to-face talks in Madrid, Spain.

1992 - Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator.

1995 - U.S. President Clinton dedicated a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

1998 - Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, died at the age of 83.

1998 - A state-run newspaper in Iraq urged the country to prepare for to battle "the U.S. monster."

2003 - In Kabul, Afghanistan, a post-Taliban draft constitution was unveiled.

1956: Soviet troops overrun Hungary

The Soviet air force bombs the Hungarian capital of Budapest and troops pour into the city in a massive dawn offensive.

Yitzhak Rabin 1995: Israeli PM shot dead
The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

1979: Militants storm US embassy in Tehran
Militant Islamic students in Iran storm the US embassy in Tehran taking 90 people hostage.

Erwin Rommel 1942: Rommel goes on the run at El Alamein
The German army in North Africa is in full retreat as the Eighth Army triumphs at the Egyptian town of El Alamein.

Bill Clinton plays the saxophone 1992: Clinton beats Bush to the White House
Democrat Bill Clinton becomes the first baby-boomer United States president after he beats rival George Bush to the White House.

1980: Reagan beats Carter in landslide
Former Hollywood actor and Republican Ronald Reagan wins the US presidential elections by a huge majority.

1974: M62 bomber jailed for life
Judith Ward is convicted of an army coach bombing in which 12 people died.
Her conviction was quashed 18 years later.