Today in History

786 - Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominio divided between his sons Charles (Charle and Carloman.
1525 - In the first of the Franco-Habsburg Wars, Roman Emperor Charles V captures the F
Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.
1538 - Ferdinand of Hapsburg and John Zapolyai
kings of Hungary, conclude the peace of
Grosswardein.
1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts
authority of the judicial branch.
1813 Off Guiana, the American sloop Hornet si
British sloop Peacock .
1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain .
1836 Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault
the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.
1895 The Cuban War of Independence begins.
1908 Japan officially agrees to restrict emigrati
U.S.
1912 Italy bombs Beirut in the first act of war a
Ottoman Empire.
1912 The Jewish organization Hadassah is fou
New York City.
1914 Civil War soldier Joshua Chamberlain die
1916 A film version of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Le
Under the Sea opens in New York.
1921 Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Co
1928 The New Gallery of New York exhibits wo
Archibald Motley, its first show to feature
artist.
1944 Merrill’s Marauders, a specially trained g
American soldiers, begin their ground ca
against Japan into Burma.
1945 U.S. forces liberate prisoners of war in th
Baños Prison in the Philippines.
1947 Franz von Papen is sentenced to eight ye
labor camp for war crimes.
1959 Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for t
Four meeting on Germany.
1968 North Vietnamese troops capture the imp
palace in Hue, South Vietnam .
1972 Hanoi negotiators walk out of the peace t
Paris to protest U.S. air raids on North Vi
1991 General Norman Schwarzkopf , command
coalition army, sends in ground forces du
Gulf War.
Born on February 24
1500 Charles V, king of Spain and the last Holy
Emperor to be crowned by the Pope.
1786 Wilhelm Carl Grimm, compiler, with his br
fairy tales.
1836 Winslow Homer, American painter.
1841 John Phillip Holland, inventor of the mode
submarine.
1874 Honus Wagner, baseball shortstop known
Flying Dutchman.”
1885 Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral who comma
forces in the Pacific during WWII.
1887 Mary Ellen Chase, New England writer.
1909 August Derleth, writer (Still is the Summe
The Shield of the Valiant ).

Today in history being 6th February

February 5

1556		Henry II of France and Philip of Spain sign the truce of Vaucelles.
1631		A ship from Bristol, the Lyon, arrives with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1762		Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrenders to the British.
1783		Sweden recognizes U.S. independence.
1846		The first Pacific Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, is published.
1864		Federal forces occupy Jackson, Miss.
1865		The three-day Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Va., begins.
1900		The United States and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
1917		U.S. Congress nullifies President Woordrow Wilson‘s veto of the Immigration Act; literacy tests are required.
1918		The Soviets proclaim separation of church and state.
1922		The Reader’s Digest begins publication in New York.
1922		William Larned’s steel-framed tennis racquet gets its first test.
1945		American and French troops destroy German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France.
1947		The Soviet Union and Great Britain reject terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
1952		New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.
1961		The Soviets launch Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite to date at 7.1 tons.
1968		U.S. troops divide Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claims they will arm loyal citizens.
1971		Two Apollo 14 astronauts walk on the moon.
1972		It is reported that the United States has agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
1985		U.S. halts a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.
Born on February 5
1723		John Witherspoon, Declaration of Independence signer.
1788		Sir Robert Peel, British prime minister.
1837		Dwight L. Moody, evangelist, founder of the Moody Bible Institute.
1848		Belle Starr, Western outlaw.
1872		Lafayette Benedict Mendel, biochemist.
1898		Ralph McGill, editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution.
1900		Adlai E. Stevenson II, Illinois governor and presidential candidate.
1914		Sir Alan Hodgin, English physiologist and biophysicist.
1915		Robert Hofstadter, physicist who won the Nobel prize in 1961 for his studies of neutrons and protons.
1926		Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, longtime New York Times publisher.
1934		Hank Aaron, American hall of fame baseball player.
1938		John Guare, playwright (The House of Blue Leaves).

Source: HistoryNet

Today in History

February 4

786		Harun al-Rashid succeeds his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad.
1194		Richard I, King of England, is freed from captivity in Germany.
1508		The Proclamation of Trent is made.
1787		Shay’s Rebellion, an uprising of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers against the new U.S. government, fails.
1795		France abolishes slavery in her territories and confers slaves to citizens.
1889		Harry Longabaugh is released from Sundance Prison in Wyoming, thereby acquiring the famous nickname, “the Sundance Kid.”
1899		After an exchange of gunfire, fighting breaks out between American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War
1906		The New York Police Department begins finger print identification.
1909		California law segregates Caucasian and Japanese schoolchildren.
1915		Germany decrees British waters as part of the war zone; all ships to be sunk without warning.
1923		French troops take the territories of Offenburg, Appenweier and Buhl in the Ruhr as a part of the agreement ending World War I.
1932		Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurates the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.
1941		The United Service Organization (U.S.O.) is formed to cater to armed forces and defense industries.
1944		The Japanese attack the Indian Seventh Army in Burma.
1945		The Big Three, American, British and Soviet leaders, meet in Yalta to discuss the war aims.
1966		Senate Foreign Relations Committee begins televised hearings on the Vietnam War.
1974		Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, beginning one of the most bizarre cases in FBI history.
1980		Syria withdraws its peacekeeping force in Beirut.
1986		The U.S. Post Office issues a commemorative stamp featuring Sojourner Truth.
Born on February 4
1881		Fernand Leger, French painter.
1900		Jacques Prevert, French poet, screenwriter (The Visitors of the Evening, The Children of Paradise).
1902		Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic.
1906		Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Protestant theologian.
1906		Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer, discovered Pluto.
1913		Rosa Lee Parks, civil rights activist.
1921		Betty Friedan, writer, feminist, founded the National Organization of Women in 1966.
1925		Russell Hoban, artist and writer (Bedtime for Frances, The Mouse and His Child).
1932		Robert Coover, novelist & short story writer.
1947		Dan Quayle, vice president under President George H.W. Bush.

Source: HistoryNet

Today in History

Today in History

1547		Ivan IV crowns himself the new Czar of Russia in Assumption Cathedral in Moscow.
1786		The Council of Virginia guarantees religious freedom.
1847		John C. Fremont, the famed “Pathfinder” of Western exploration, is appointed governor of California.
1865		General William T. Sherman begins a march through the Carolinas.
1900		The U.S. Senate recognizes the Anglo-German Treaty of 1899 by which the UK renounced its rights to the Samoan Islands.
1909		One of Ernest Shackleton‘s polar exploration teams reaches the Magnetic South Pole.
1914		Maxim Gorky is authorized to return to Russia after an eight year exile for political dissidence.
1920		The League of Nations holds its first meeting in Paris.
1920		Allies lift the blockade on trade with Russia.
1939		Franklin D. Roosevelt asks for an extension of the Social Security Act to include more women and children.
1940		Hitler cancels an attack in the West due to bad weather and the capture of German attack plans in Belgium.
1942		Japan’s advance into Burma begins.
1944		Eisenhower assumes supreme command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.
1945		The U.S. First and Third armies link up at Houffalize, effectively ending the Battle of the Bulge.
1956		The Egyptian government makes Islam the state religion.
1965		Eighteen are arrested in Mississippi for the murder of three civil rights workers.
1975		The Irish Republican Army calls an end to a 25-day cease fire in Belfast.
1979		The Shah leaves Iran.
1991		The Persian Gulf War begins. The massive U.S.-led offensive against Iraq — Operation Desert Storm — ends on February 28, 1991, when President George Bush declares a cease-fire, and Iraq pledges to honor future coalition and U.N. peace terms.
Born on January 16
1757		Samuel McIntire, architect of Salem, Massachusetts.
1749		Vittorio Alfieri, Italian tragic poet (Cleopatra, Parigi shastigliata).
1821		John C. Breckinridge, 14th U.S. Vice President, Confederate Secretary of War.
1909		Ethel Merman, U.S. singer and actress, the “Queen of Broadway.”
1933		Susan Sontag, American essayist and novelist (The Style of Radical Will, Illness as a Metaphor).

Source: History net

Today in history being 9th January 2015

1719		Philip V of Spain declares war on France.
1776		Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, a scathing attack on King George III’s reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence.
1792		The Ottomans sign a treaty with the Russians ending a five year war.
1793		Jean Pierre Blanchard makes the first balloon flight in North America.
1861		Southern shellfire stops the Union supply ship Star of the West from entering Charleston Harbor on her way to Fort Sumter.
1861		Mississippi secedes from the Union.
1908		Count Zeppelin announces plans for his airship to carry 100 passengers.
1909		A Polar exploration team lead by Ernest Shackleton reaches 88 degrees, 23 minutes south longitude, 162 degrees east latitude. They are 97 nautical miles short of the South Pole, but the weather is too severe to continue.
1912		Colonel Theodore Roosevelt announces that he will run for president if asked.
1915		Pancho Villa signs a treaty with the United States, halting border conflicts.
1924		Ford Motor Co. stock is valued at nearly $1 billion.
1943		Soviet planes drop leaflets on the surrounded Germans in Stalingrad requesting their surrender with humane terms. The Germans refuse.
1945		U.S. troops land on Luzon, in the Philippines, 107 miles from Manila.
1947		French General Leclerc breaks off all talks with Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh.
1952		Jackie Robinson becomes the highest paid player in Brooklyn Dodger history.
1964		U.S. forces kill six Panamanian students protesting in the canal zone.
1974		Cambodian Government troops open a drive to avert insurgent attack on Phnom Penh.
1992		The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of a new state within Yugoslavia, the Rupublika Srpska.
1996		A raid by Chechen separatists in the city of Kizlyar turns into a hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2005		Mahmoud Abbas wins election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority.
2005		The Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War is signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
2007		Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, unveils the first iPhone.
Born on January 9
1554		Gregory XV, Roman Catholic Pope.
1890		Karel Capek, Czech writer and playwright, best remembered for his play R.U.R., which contained the first use of the word “robot.”
1913		Richard Nixon, 37th President of the U.S. and first President to resign from office.
1941		Joan Baez, American folk singer and activist.
1944		Jimmy Page, musician, songwriter, producer; member of The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and other bands.
1963		Michael Everson, American and Irish linguist; a leading expert in the computer encoding of scripts.
1967		Dave Matthews, singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor; leader of Dave Matthews Band and Dave Matthews & Friends.
1982		Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Catherine Elizabeth “Kate” Middleton); wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Upon William’s assumption of the British throne, the Duchess would become queen consort.

Source: History Net

Today in history

1681		The Treaty of Radzin ends a five year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.
1745		England, Austria, Saxony and the Netherlands form an alliance against Russia.
1815		A rag-tag army under Andrew Jackson defeats the British on the fields of Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans.
1871		Prussian troops begin to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
1892		A coal mine explosion kills 100 in McAlister, Oklahoma.
1900		The Boers attack the British in Ladysmith, South Africa, but are turned back.
1908		A subway line opens linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
1940		Great Britain begins rationing sugar, meat and butter.
1946		President Harry S. Truman vows to stand by the Yalta accord on self-determination for the Balkans.
1954		President Dwight Eisenhower proposes stripping convicted Communists of their U.S. citizenship.
1963		President John F. Kennedy attends the unveiling of the Mona Lisa.
1975		Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first female governor in the US who did not come into office by succeeding her husband.
1979		The United States advises the Shah to leave Iran.
1982		AT&T agrees to divest 22 subdivisions as part of an antitrust agreement.
1994		Valeri Polyakov, a Russian cosmonaut leaves earth, bound for the Mir space station; he will spend a record 437 days in space.
2002		US President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act, intended to improve America’s educational system.
2004		The largest passenger ship in history, the RMS Queen Mary 2, is christened by Queen Elizabeth II, granddaughter of Queen Mary.
2011		An attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords is part of a shooting spree in which Jared Lee Loughner kills 6 and wounds 13.
Born on January 8
1587		Johannes Fabricus, astronomer who discovered sunspots.
1786		Nicholas Biddle, head of the first United States bank.
1862		Frank Nelson Doubleday, founder of Doubleday publishing house.
1935		Elvis Presley, rock ‘n roll singer, actor in over thirty films.
1938		Bob Eubanks, popular US TV game show host (The Newlywed Game).
1941		Graham Chapman, comedian, actor, member of the Monty Python group.
1947		David Bowie, singer, songwriter, producer, actor (“Starman”).
2011		Princess Josephine of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat (Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda), and Prince Vincent of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander).

Source: History Net

Today in History being January 6

1066		Harold Godwineson is crowned King Harold II – King of England.
1540		Henry VIII of England marries his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage will last six months.
1861		The Governor of Maryland, Thomas Hicks, announces his opposition to the states’s possible secession from the Union.
1904		Japanese railway authorities in Korea refuse to transport Russian troops.
1910		Union leaders ask President William H. Taft to investigate U.S. Steel’s practices.
1912		New Mexico becomes the 47th U.S. state of the Union.
1918		Germany acknowledges Finland’s independence.
1919		Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, dies at the age of 60 in his home at Sagamore Hill, New York.
1921		The U.S. Navy orders the sale of 125 flying boats to encourage commercial aviation.
1937		The United States bans the shipment of arms to war-torn Spain.
1941		President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to support the Lend-lease Bill to help supply the Allies.
1945		Boeing B-29 bombers in the Pacific strike new blows on Tokyo and Nanking.
1946		Ho Chi Minh wins in the Vietnamese elections.
1958		Moscow announces a reduction in its armed forces by 300,000.
1967		Over 16,000 U.S. and 14,000 Vietnamese troops start their biggest attack on the Iron Triangle, northwest of Saigon.
1987		Astronomers report sighting a new galaxy 12 billion light years away.
2001		In one of the closest Presidential elections in U.S. history, George W. Bush was finally declared the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 Presidential elections more then five weeks after the election due to the disputed Florida ballots.
2005		Former Ku Klux Klan organizer Edgar Ray Killen arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.
2014		US Senate confirms Janet Yellen as the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve Bank in the central bank’s 100-year history.
Born on January 6
1367		Richard II, son of Edward the Black Prince.
1412		Joan of Arc, French Saint and national heroine.
1811		Charles Sumner, anti-slavery senator from Massachusetts.
1878		Carl Sandburg, U.S. journalist, poet and biographer.
1882		Sam Rayburn, U.S. Congressman from Texas & Speaker of the House (1940-46, 1949-53).
1899		Heinz Nordhoff, German engineer, named managing director of the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg after World War II; under his leadership the Volkswagen Beetle became a worldwide phenomenon.
1900		Maria of Romania, Queen of Yugoslavia; wife of King Alexander.
1912		Danny Thomas, actor, producer, philanthropist; founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
1913		Loretta Young, actress; won Academy Award for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947).
1924		Earl Scruggs, musician; popularized the finger-picking style of banjo playing; blended rock and bluegrass.
1935		Queen Margarita of Bulgaria (Dona Margarita Gomez-Acebo y Cejuela).
1937		Lou Holtz, college football coach; television sports commentator.
1944		Bonnie Franklin, actress (One Day at a Time TV series).
1946		Syd Barrett, musician, singer, songwriter; founding member of the band Pink Floyd.
1957		Nancy Lopez, pro golfer; won LPGA Championship (1978, 1985) and Mazda LPGA Championship (1989).

Source: History Net

What happened this day in history

1477		Swiss troops defeat the forces under Charles the Bold of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy.
1815		Federalists from all over New England, angered over the War of 1812, draw up the Hartford Convention, demanding several important changes in the U.S. Constitution.
1861		The merchant vessel Star of the West sets sail from New York to Fort Sumter, in response to rebel attack, carrying supplies and 250 troops.
1904		American Marines arrive in Seoul, Korea, to guard the U.S. legation there.
1914		Henry Ford astounds the world as he announces that he will pay a minimum wage of $5 a day and will share with employees $10 million in the previous year’s profits.
1917		Bulgarian and German troops occupy the Port of Braila.
1919		British ships shell the Bolshevik headquarters in Riga.
1920		GOP women demand equal representation at the Republican National Convention in June.
1921		Wagner’s “Die Walkyrie” opens in Paris. This is the first German opera performed in Paris since the beginning of World War I.
1923		The U.S. Senate debates the benefits of Peyote for the American Indian.
1925		Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is sworn in as the first woman governor in the United States.
1936		Daggha Bur, Ethiopia, is bombed by the Italians.
1942		U.S. and Filipino troops complete their withdrawal to a new defensive line along the base of the Bataan peninsula.
1947		Great Britain nationalizes its coal mines.
1951		Inchon, South Korea, the sight of General Douglas MacArthur’s amphibious flanking maneuver, is abandoned by United Nations force to the advancing Chinese Army.
1952		Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington to confer with President Harry S. Truman.
1968		U.S. forces in Vietnam launch Operation Niagara I to locate enemy units around the Marine base at Khe Sanh.
1969		President Richard M. Nixon appoints Henry Cabot Lodge as negotiator at the Paris Peace Talks.
1971		President Richard M. Nixon names Robert Dole as chairman of the Republican National Party.
1982		A Federal judge voids a state law requiring balanced classroom treatment of evolution and creationism.
1991		The South Ossetia War (1991-92) begins as Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia, Georgia.
2005		Eris, largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System is discovered in images taken Oct. 21, 2003, at Palomar Observatory.
Born on January 5
1779		Stephen Decatur, American naval hero during actions against the Barbay pirates and the War of 1812.
1876		Conrad Adenauer, first chancellor of post-World War II West Germany.
1928		Walter Mondale, 42nd Vice President of the United States, Democratic presidential nominee who lost to Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Ambassador to Japan.
1932		Umberto Eco, Italian novelist (The Name of the Rose).
1938		Juan Carlos I, King of Spain.

Source: History net

Today in history being 30th December

Today in History

1460		The Duke of York is defeated and killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield.
1803		The United States takes possession of the Louisiana area from France at New Orleans with a simple ceremony, the simultaneous lowering and raising of the national flags.
1861		Banks in the United States suspend the practice of redeeming paper money for metal currency, a practice that would continue until 1879.
1862		The draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is finished and circulated among President Abraham Lincoln‘s cabinet for comment.
1905		Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho is killed by an assassin’s bomb.
1922		Soviet Russia is renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
1932		The Soviet Union bars food handouts for housewives under 36 years of age. They must now work to eat.
1947		Romania’s King Michael is forced to abdicate by Soviet-backed Communists. Communists now control all of Eastern Europe.
1965		Ferdinand E. Marcos is sworn in as the Philippine Republic’s sixth president.
1972		After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho.
1976		Governor Carey of New York pardons seven inmates, closing the book on the Attica uprising.
2006		Saddam Hussein, former Iraq dictator, is executed by hanging for crimes committed against his own people during his rule.
Born on December 30
1865		Rudyard Kipling, British author (Jungle Book, Soldiers Three).
1867		Simon Guggenheim, philanthropist and U.S. senator for Colorado.
1884		Tojo Hideki, Japanese Prime Minister during World War II.
1928		Bo Diddley, blues composer and singer.
1935		Sandy Koufax, Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher with the L.A. Dodgers.

Source: History net

Today in History being December 26

1776		After crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey, George Washington leads an attack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, and takes 900 men prisoner.
1786		Daniel Shay leads a rebellion in Massachusetts to protest the seizure of property for the non-payment of debt.
1806		Napoleon’s army is checked by the Russians at the Battle of Pultusk.
1862		38 Santee Sioux are hanged in Mankato, Minnesota for their part in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. Little Crow has fled the state.
1866		Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte, receives word of the Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory.
1917		As a wartime measure, President Woodrow Wilson places railroads under government control, with Secretary of War William McAdoo as director general.
1925		Six U.S. destroyers are ordered from Manila to China to protect interests in the civil war that is being waged there.
1932		Over 70,000 people are killed in a massive earthquake in China.
1941		General Douglas MacArthur declares Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing Japanese Army.
1943		The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight.
1944		Advancing Soviet troops complete their encirclement of Budapest in Hungary.
1945		The United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain, end a 10-day meeting, seeking an atomic rule by the UN Council.
1953		The United States announces the withdrawal of two divisions from Korea.
1962		Eight East Berliners escape to West Berlin, crashing through gates in an armor-plated bus.
1966		Dr. Maulana Karenga celebrates the first Kwanza, a seven-day African-American celebration of family and heritage.
1979		The Soviet Union flies 5,000 troops to intervene in the Afghanistan conflict.
1982		Time magazine chooses a personal computer as it “Man of the Year,” the first non-human ever to receive the honor.
1991		The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
1996		JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, is found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, one of the most high-profile crimes of the late 20th century in the US.
1996		Workers in South Korea’s automotive and shipbuilding industries begin the largest labor strike in that country’s history, protesting a new law that made firing employees easier and would curtail the rights of labor groups to organize.
1999		Lothar, a violent, 36-hour windstorm begins; it kills 137 and causes $1.3 billion (US dollars) damage in Central Europe.
2004		A tsunami caused by a 9.3-magnitude earthquake kills more than 230,000 along the rim of the Indian Ocean.
2006		Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford dies at age 93. Ford was the only unelected president in America’s history.
Born on December 26
1716		Thomas Gray, English poet.
1792		Charles Babbage, English mathematician who perfected the calculating machine.
1891		Henry Miller, American writer.
1893		Mao Tse-tung, founding father of the People’s Republic of China.
1894		Jean Toomer, poet and novelist who figured prominently in the Harlem Renaissance (Cane).
1905		William Loeb III, publisher of the Manchester Union Leader (later The New Hampshire Union Leader), one of the best-known small town newspapers in the US.
1907		Albert Gore Sr., US Senator from Tennessee who was instrumental in sponsoring and pushing through legislation that created America’s Interstate Highway System.
1914		Richard Widmark, actor (Kiss of Death); member of Western Performers Hall of Fame.
1921		Steve Allen, radio and TV personality, actor, musician, comedian, writer; hosted The Steve Allen Show and I’ve Got a Secret; won a Grammy for his jazz composition “The Gravy Waltz” (1963).
1924		Frank Broyles, college football player and coach; member of College Football Hall of Fame.
1927		Alan King, comedian, actor, producer, author (How to Pick Up Girls, Night and the CIty).
1939		Phil Spector, record producer; creator of the “Wall of Sound” production method; convicted in 2009 of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, he was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.
1942		Dan Massey, social activist, author; co-founder and CEO of VenusPlusX.
1945		John Walsh, TV personality, victims rights advocate; created of America’s Most Wanted TV series after the murder of his son Adam in 1981.
1947		USMC General James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps (2006-10); commanded 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during the Second Gulf War.
2000		Samuel Sevian, chess prodigy; at age 12 became youngest-ever United States International Master.

Source: History Net

Today in History being 25th December

Today in history

Merry Christmas!Christmas is the festival celebrating the birth of Christ and is observed in most countries on December 25. Christmas is sometimes called Yule (from the Anglo-Saxon) or Noel (from the French). Christian churches throughout the world hold special services on Christmas Day to give thanks for the birth of Christ. In addition to religious observances, Christmas is a time of merrymaking and feasting. North American customs are a combination of those of the various European countries from which the original settlers came. On Christmas Eve children hang stockings for Santa Claus to fill with gifts. The Christmas tree, usually an evergreen, was first used in Germany. Topped with a star or spire and decorated with colored lights and shiny ornaments, the tree plays an important part in the celebration. Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids, priests of ancient Britain and Gaul. The Norse used holly and the Yule log to keep away evil spirits. Gifts were exchanged during the Roman celebration of the Saturnalia, a feast to the god Saturn. Gift-giving came to symbolize the gifts brought to the Christ Child by the Magi. The most popular Christmas legend however, is that of Santa Claus, whose name came from Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Many of the qualities that Santa Claus is known for came from Clement C. Moore’s poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas.”
376		In Milan, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, forces the emperor Theodosius to perform public penance for his massacre.
800		The pope crowns Charlemagne emperor in Rome.
1066		William I is crowned king of England.
1621		The governor of New Plymouth prevents newcomers from playing cards.
1651		The General Court of Boston levies a five shilling fine on anyone caught “observing any such day as Christmas.”
1776		Patriot General George Washington crosses the Delaware River with 5,400 troops during the American Revolution. Washington hoped to surprise a Hessian force celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey.
1861		Stonewall Jackson spends Christmas with his wife; their last together.
1862		John Hunt Morgan and his raiders clash with Union forces near Bear Wallow, Kentucky.
1862		President and Mrs. Lincoln visit hospitals in the Washington D.C. area on this Christmas Day.
1912		Italy lands troops in Albania to protect its interests during a revolt there.
1914		German and British troops on the Western Front declare an unofficial truce to celebrate Christmas during World War I.
1918		A revolt erupts in Berlin.
1925		U.S. troops in Nicaragua disarm insurgents in support of the Diaz regime.
1927		The Mexican congress opens land to foreign investors, reversing the 1917 ban enacted to preserve the domestic economy.
1939		Finnish troops enter Soviet territory.
1941		Free French troops occupy the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the Canadian coast.
1944		Prime Minister Winston Churchill goes to Athens to seek an end to the Greek civil war.
1946		Chiang Kai-shek offers a new Chinese constitution in Nanking pledging universal suffrage.
1950		Scottish nationalists steal the Stone of Scone from the British coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485 pound stone was recovered in April 1951.
1962		The Bay of Pigs captives, upon their return to the United States, vow to return to Cuba and topple Fidel Castro.
1965		Entertainer Chris Noel gives her first performance for the USO at two hospitals in California; became a star on Armed Forces Radio and Television, entertaining troops in Vietnam; in 1984 Veterans Network honored her with a Distinguished Vietnam Veteran award.
1973		U.S. astronauts onboard the Skylab space station take a seven-hour walk in space and photograph the comet Kohoutek.
1976		Over 100 Muslims, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, die when their boat sinks.
1979		Egypt begins major restoration of the Sphinx.
1991		Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s first and last executive president, resigns. The Soviet Union no longer exsists.
2006		James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul”, dies at age 73.
Born on December 25
1642		Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and scientist who enunciated the laws of motion and the law of gravity.
1841		Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross.
1870		Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-born founder of the Spartacus League which later became the German Communist Party.
1907		Cab Calloway, band leader, the first Jazz singer to sell a million records.
1918		Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (1970 to 1981) and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
1919		Paul David, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute.
1924		Rod Serling, screenwriter, producer; created The Twilight Zone TV series.
1925		Sam Pollock, general manager of the National Hockey League of Canada and the USA; member of Hockey Hall of Fame; a public square in Montreal is named in his honor.
1936		Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, youngest granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary.
1939		Bob James, Grammy-winning jazz musician, arranger and producer.
1945		Noel Redding, singer, songwriter, musician; member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Noel Redding Band and other groups.
1945		Ken Stabler, pro football quarterback nicknamed “The Snake” for his ability to evade tacklers.
1946		Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor (“Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise”).
1948		Alia Baha Ad-Din Touqan, Queen consort of Jordan, third wife of King Hussein of Jordan; died in a helicopter crash in 1977; Amman’s international airport is named in her honor.
1948		Barbara Mandrell, country singer; twice Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year (“Sleeping Single in a Double Bed”).
1949		Sissy Spacek, actress; won Academy Award for Best Actress portraying country singer Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980).
1950		Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the George W. Bush administration.
1954		Annie Lennox, Scottish singer, songwriter, activist; member of Eurythmics band; winner of eight Brit Award, four Grammys, an MTV Video Music Award, a Billboard Century Award; won Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Into the West” in the soundtrack of the film The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
1954		Steve Wariner, country singer, songwriter, musician (“All Roads Lead to You,” “Life’s Highway”).

Today in History being December 24

Source: History Net

1638		The Ottomans under Murad IV recapture Baghdad from Safavid Persia.
1812		Joel Barlow, aged 58, American poet and lawyer, dies from exposure near Vilna, Poland, during Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Barlow was on a diplomatic mission to the emperor for President Madison.
1814		A treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, ending the War of 1812, is signed at Ghent, Belgium. The news does not reach the United States until two weeks later (after the decisive American victory at New Orleans).
1861		The USS Gem of the Sea destroys the British blockade runner Prince of Wales off the coast at Georgetown, S.C.
1862		A Christmas present arrives a day early for the Federal troops at Columbus, Kentucky, in the way of artillery on board the USS New Era.
1914		Over 577,000 Allied soldiers are to spend Christmas as prisoners in Germany.
1917		The Kaiser warns Russia that he will use “iron fist” and “shining sword” if peace is spurned.
1943		General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed the Allied Supreme Commander, even though almost everyone believed the position would go to American Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.
1947		An estimated 20,000 communists, led by guerrilla General Markos Vafthiades proclaim the Free Greek Government in northern Greece. They issue a call to arms to establish the regime throughout the nation.
1956		African Americans defy a city law in Tallahassee, Florida, and occupy front bus seats.
1963		New York’s Idlewild Airport is renamed JFK Airport in honor of the murdered President Kennedy.
1964		The U.S. headquarters in Saigon is hit by a bomb killing two officers.
1966		A Soviet research vehicle soft-lands on the moon.
1967		The Greek Junta frees ex-Premier Papandreou.
1968		The first pictures of an Earth-rise over the moon are seen as the crew of Apollo 8 orbits the moon.
1970		Nine GIs are killed and nine are wounded by friendly fire in Vietnam.
1972		Hanoi bars all peace talks with the United States until U.S. air raids over North Vietnam stop.
1974		An oil tanker’s spill pollutes 1,600 square miles of Japan’s Inland Sea.
1974		Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, destroying more than 70 percent of the city’s buildings, including 80 percent of its houses.
2005		Chad declares a state of war against Sudan in the wake of the Dec. 18 attack on the town of Adre, in which approximately 100 people were killed.
Born on December 24
1166		King John of England.
1745		Benjamin Rush, American medical pioneer and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1809		Christopher Kit Carson, one of the most famous mountain men and scouts in the West.
1905		Howard Hughes, American industrialist, aviator, film producer, and director.
1922		Ava Gardner, film actress (The Barefoot Contessa, The Sun Also Rises).
1923		US Army Major General George S. Patton IV, son of Gen. George Patton of World War II fame.
1929		Mary Higgins Clark, author of suspense novels (Where are the Children, Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting).
1955		Scott Fischer, mountain climber and guide; first American to reach the summit of Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest mountain.
1971		Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican pop musician, actor, author; was a member of the boy group Menudo before launching a successful solo career (“Livin’ la Vida Loca”).
1973		Stephenie Meyer, author best known for her young-adult, vampire romance series Twilight.
1974		Ryan Seacrest, radio personality, TV host; host of American Idol TV talent competition.

Today in History being 23rd December

Today in History

1861		Lord Lyons, The British minister to America presents a formal complaint to secretary of state, William Seward, regarding the Trent affair.
1900		The Federal Party, which recognizes American sovereignty, is formed in the Philippines.
1919		Great Britain institutes a new constitution for India.
1921		President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.
1933		Pope Pius XI condemns the Nazi sterilization program.
1937		London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.
1939		The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain.
1940		Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.
1941		Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.
1944		General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirms the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.
1947		President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.
1948		Japan’s Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.
1950		General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.
1967		U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.
1974		The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.
1986		The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.
1990		In a referendum on Sovlenia’s independence from Yugoslovia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.
2002		An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a US MQ-1 Predator drone.
Born on December 23
1777		Alexander I, czar of Russia.
1790		Jean François Champollion, French founder of Egyptology who deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
1805		Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church.
1867		Madame C. J. Walker, first female African American millionaire.
1933		Emperor Akihito, Emperor of Japan. Broke with tradition by marrying Michiko Shoda, the first non-aristocrat to join the royal family.
1935		Paul Hornung, pro football player; member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1938		Bob Kahn, computer scientist and engineer; co-developed the Transmission Control Protocol that web browsers use to connect to servers on the World Wide Web.
1943		Queen Silvia of Sweden (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath); suppose of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
1944		US Army General Wesley Clark; while serving as Supreme Allied Commander Europe in NATO (1997–2000) he commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War.
1952		William Kristol, American politician, journalist; founded The Weekly Standard, an influential neoconservative opinion publication.
1953		Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.

What Happened today in History

Today in History

1135		Stephen of Blois is crowned the king of England.
1775		Esek Hopkins takes command of the Continental Navy — a total of seven ships.
1807		Congress passes the Embargo Act, which halts all trading completely. It is hoped that the act will keep the United States out the European Wars.
1829		The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opens the first passenger railway line.
1918		The last of the food restrictions, enforced because of the shortages during World War I, are lifted.
1929		Soviet troops leave Manchuria after a truce is reached with the Chinese over the Eastern Railway dispute.
1941		Japanese troops make an amphibious landing on the coast of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the Philippines.
1942		The Soviets drive German troops back 15 miles at the Don River.
1944		During the Battle of the Bulge, General Anthony McAuliffe responds to a German surrender request with a one word answer: “Nuts!”
1945		The United States recognizes Tito’s government in Yugoslavia.
1965		The EF-105F Wild Weasel makes its first kill over Vietnam.
1966		The United States announces the allocation of 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine in India.
1989		The Romanian government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown, ending 42 years of communist rule.
1989		The division of East and West Germany effectively ends when the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens for the first time in nearly 30 years.
1992		What became known as the Archives of Terror are discovered in a police station near the capital of Paraguay, records detailing tens of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly imprisoned, tortured and / or killed by the security services of several South American governments.
1997		Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes his disputed title of President of Somalia, an important step toward reconciliation in the country.
2001		President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, takes over an interim government.
2001		A passenger on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris, Richard Reid, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the plane in flight by igniting explosives he’d hidden in his shoes.
2008		Some 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry flood part of Tennessee after an ash dike breaks at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, in the eastern part of the state.
2010		US President Barack Obama signs a law officially repealing the 17-year-old policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell”; the new law permits homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.
Born on December 22
1856		Frank Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State who tried to outlaw war with the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
1858		Giacomo Puccini, Italian operatic composer best known for Madam Butterfly.
1883		Arthur Wergs Mitchell, first African-American to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
1912		Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, wife of US President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
1921		Hawkshaw Hawkins (Harold Hawkins), country singer; he died in 1963 along with country stars Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas when the small plane that was carrying them crashed in 1963.
1945		Diane Sawyer, journalist; anchor of ABC World News.
1949		Robin and Maurice Gibb, singers, songwriters; co-founders of the Bee Gees band.
1946		Rick Nielsen, musician, vocalist, primary songwriter of the band Cheap Trick.
1951		Charles de Lint, author; helped popularize the urban fantasy genre; received World Fantasy Award (2000) for the collection Moonlight and Vines.
1951		Major-General Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, owner of the property company Grosvenor Group.

Source: History Net

Today in History being Monday 21st December

Today in History

Source: History Net

1620		The Pilgrims land at or near Plymouth Rock.
1708		French forces seize control of the eastern shore of Newfoundland after winning a victory at St. John’s.
1790		Samuel Slater opens the first cotton mill in the United States (in Rhode Island).
1862		The U.S. Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor to be awarded to Navy personnel who have distinguished themselves by their gallantry in action.
1866		Indians, led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, kill Captain William J. Fetterman and 79 other men who had ventured out from Fort Phil Kearny to cut wood.
1910		Over 2.5 million plague victims are reported in the An-Hul province of China.
1928		President Calvin Coolidge signs the Boulder Dam bill.
1944		German troops surround the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne in Belgium.
1945		General George S. Patton dies at the age of 60 after being injured in a car accident.
1946		An earthquake and tidal wave kill hundreds in Japan.
1963		The Turk minority riots in Cyprus to protest anti-Turkish revisions in the constitution.
1964		Great Britain’s House of Commons votes to ban the death penalty.
1965		Four pacifists are indicted in New York for burning draft cards.
1969		American draft evaders gather for a holiday dinner in Montreal, Canada.
1986		500,000 Chinese students gather in Shanghai’s People’s Square calling for democratic reforms, including freedom of the press.
1988		Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. All 259 passengers were killed in the explosion caused by a bomb– hidden inside an audio cassette player — that detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. A shower of airplane parts falling from the sky also killed 11 Lockerbie residents.
1994		Popocatepetl, a volcano in Mexico spews forth gases and ash after nearly a half-century of dormancy.
1995		The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
2004		A suicide bomber attacks the forward operating base next to the US military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people; it is the deadliest suicide attack on US soldiers during the Iraq War.
Born on December 21
1804		Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1879		Joseph Stalin, Communist leader of the Soviet Union.
1911		Josh Gibson, baseball player for the Negro Leagues, Home-Run King.
1918		Kurt Waldheim, controversial fourth Secretary General of the United Nations.
1937		Jane Fonda, actress, political activist, exercise guru; films include Klute and Coming Home.
1940		Frank Zappa, bandleader, composer, guitarist, satirist, filmmaker and advocate of creative freedom.
1954		Chris Evert (Chris Evert-Lloyd), No. 1 women’s pro tennis player in the world for 260 weeks in the 1970s; she reached 34 Grand Slam singles finals, a record unmatched by any other pro, female or male.
1959		Florence Griffith Joyner, track star, Olympic medalist. Died unexpectedly of heart failure at age thirty-eight on September 21, 1998.
1966		Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor, producer, director; best known as Jack Bauer on the 24 TV series, a role that garnered him several awards including an Emmy and Golden Globe.