On This Day

[Raistlin]

Cassy

(34 years old)

 

Ceri

(30 years old)

CharlieSoulGirl

(43 years old)

Elljay2k

(34 years old)

G6AArgh

(38 years old)

greebo

(61 years old)

HRdevelopments

(21 years old)

jed50

(60 years old)

jonnnnnnnnnnnno

(25 years old)

kingcin

(27 years old)

larry my yaris

(31 years old)

Lou

(44 years old)

martin1

(46 years old)

RachVG

 

Scouse in Oz

(72 years old)

sparkieboy

(48 years old)

Stingray_NL

(52 years old)

Tercel GTS - DirtWeed

(53 years old)

uncle silvia

(34 years old)

whipitonce

(73 years old)

 

white/mr2gtt

[Raistlin]

1099 - Crusade leaders visited the Mount of Olives where they met a hermit who urged them to assault Jerusalem.

1442 - Alfonso V of Aragon was crowned King of Naples.

1665 - England installed a municipal government in New York. It was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

1812 - Napoleon's invasion of Russia began.

1838 - The Iowa Territory was organized.

1839 - Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend.

1849 - Lewis Haslett patented a gas mask. (Patent US6529 A)

1897 - Carl Elsener patented his penknife. The object later became known as the Swiss army knife.

1898 - Philippine nationalists declared their independence from Spain.

1900 - The Reichstag approved a second law that would allow the expansion of the German navy.

1901 - Cuba agreed to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment.

1912 - Lillian Russel retired from the stage and was married for the fourth time.

1918 - The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I's Western Front in France.

1921 - U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.

1923 - Harry Houdini, while suspended upside down 40 feet above the ground, escaped from a strait jacket.

1926 - Brazil quit the League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany.

1935 - U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words.

1935 - The Chaco War was ended with a truce. Bolivia and Paraguay had been fighting since 1932.

1937 - The Soviet Union executed eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.

1939 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.

1941 - In London, the Inter-Allied Declaration was signed. It was the first step towards the establishment of the United Nations.

1944 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung announced that he would support Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in the war against Japan.

1948 - Ben Hogan won his first U.S. Open golf classic.

1963 - "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, and Richard Burton premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City.

1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, MS.

1967 - State laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1971 - Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

1975 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was found guilty of corrupt election practices in 1971.

1979 - Bryan Allen flew the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.

1981 - Major league baseball players began a 49 day strike. The issue was free-agent compensation.

1981 - "Raiders of the Lost Ark" opened in the U.S.

1982 - 75,000 people rallied against nuclear weapons in New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt were in attendance.

1985 - Wayne "The Great One" Gretsky was named winner of the NHL's Hart Trophy. The award is given to the the league Most Valuable Player.

1985 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras.

1986 - South Africa declared a national state of emergency. Virtually unlimited power was given to security forces and restrictions were put on news coverage of the unrest.

1987 - U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

1990 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declared its sovereignty.

1991 - Russians went to the election polls and elected Boris N. Yeltsin as the president of their republic.

1991 - The Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship. The Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one.

1992 - In a letter to the U.S. Senate, Russian Boris Yeltsin stated that in the early 1950's the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes and held 12 American survivors.

1996 - In Philadelphia a panel of federal judges blocked a law against indecency on the internet. The panel said that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults.

1997 - Interleague play began in baseball, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series.

1997 - The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

1998 - Compaq Computer paid $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corp. in largest high-tech acquisition.

1999 - NATO peacekeeping forces entered the province of Kosovo in Yugoslavia.

2003 - In Arkansas, Terry Wallis spoke for the first time in nearly 19 years. Wallis had been in a coma since July 13, 1984, after being injured in a car accident.

2009 - In the U.S., The switch from analog TV trasmission to digital was completed.

[Raistlin]

1415 - Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.

1777 - The Marquis de Lafayette arrived in the American colonies to help with their rebellion against the British.

1789 - Ice cream was served to General George Washington by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton.

1825 - Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. Hunt then then sold the rights for $400.

1866 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. It was ratified on July 9, 1868. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

1888 - The U.S. Congress created the Department of Labor.

1898 - The Canadian Yukon Territory was organized.

1900 - China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted into violence.

1912 - Captain Albert Berry made the first successful parachute jump from an airplane in Jefferson, Mississippi.

1920 - The U.S. Post Office Department ruled that children may not be sent by parcel post.

1922 - Charlie Osborne started the longest attack on hiccups. He hiccuped over 435 million times before stopping. He died in 1991, 11 months after his hiccups ended.

1923 - The French set a trade barrier between the occupied Ruhr and the rest of Germany.

1927 - Charles Lindbergh was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

1927 - For the first time, an American Flag was displayed from the right hand of the Statue of Liberty.

1940 - Paris was evacuated before the German advance on the city.

1943 - German spies landed on Long Island, New York. They were soon captured.

1944 - Germany launched 10 of its new V1 rockets against Britain from a position near the Channel coast. Of the 10 rockets only 5 landed in Britain and only one managed to kill (6 people in London).

1944 - Marvin Camras patented the wire recorder.

1949 - Bao Dai entered Saigon to rule Vietnam. He had been installed by the French.

1951 - U.N. troops seized Pyongyang, North Korea.

1966 - The landmark "Miranda v. Arizona" decision was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision ruled that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional rights before being questioned by police.

1967 - Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1971 - The New York Times began publishing the "Pentagon Papers". The articles were a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.

1978 - Israelis withdrew the last of their invading forces from Lebanon.

1979 - Sioux Indians were awarded $105 million in compensation for the U.S. seizure in 1877 of their Black Hills in South Dakota.

1983 - The unmanned U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system. It was launched in March 1972. The first up-close images of the planet Jupiter were provided by Pioneer 10.

1988 - The Liggett Group, a cigarette manufacturer, was found liable for a lung-cancer death. They were, however, found innocent by the federal jury of misrepresenting the risks of smoking.

1989 - The Detroit Pistons won their first National Basketball Association title. They beat the L.A. Lakers in four games.

1989 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush exercised his first Presidential veto on a bill dealing with minimum wage.

1992 - Future U.S. President Bill Clinton criticized rap singer Sister Souljah for making remarks "filled with hatred" towards whites.

1994 - A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found Exxon Corp. and Captain Joseph Hazelwood to be reckless in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

1995 - France announced that they would conduct eight more nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

2000 - In Pyongyang, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il welcomed South Korea's President Kim Dae for a three-day summit. It was the first such meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea.
 

[Raistlin]

1775 - The Continental Army was founded by the Second Continental Congress for purposes of common defense. This event is considered to be the birth of the United States Army. On June 15, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief.

1777 - The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States. The Flag Resolution stated "Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." On May 20, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14 "Flag Day" as a commemoration of the "Stars and Stripes."

1789 - Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty arrived in Timor in a small boat.

1834 - Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

1834 - Isaac Fischer Jr. patented sandpaper.

1841 - The first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston.

1846 - A group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.

1893 - Philadelphia observed the first Flag Day.

1900 - Hawaii became a U.S. territory.

1907 - Women in Norway won the right to vote.

1917 - General John Pershing arrived in Paris during World War I.

1919 - The first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight began. Captain John Alcot and Lt. Arthur Brown flew from Newfoundland to Ireland.

1922 - Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to be heard on radio. The event was the dedication of the Francis Scott Key memorial at Fort McHenry.

1927 - Nicaraguan President Adolfo Diaz signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing American intervention in his country.

1940 - The Nazis opened their concentration camp at Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland.

1940 - German troops entered Paris. As Paris became occupied loud Speakers announced the implementation of a curfew being imposed for 8 p.m.

1943 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schoolchildren could not be made to salute the U.S. flag if doing so conflicted with their religious beliefs.

1944 - Sixty U.S. B-29 Superfortress' attacked an iron and steel works factory on Honshu Island.

1945 - Burma was liberated by Britain.

1949 - The state of Vietnam was formed.

1951 - "Univac I" was unveiled. It was a computer designed for the U.S. Census Bureau and billed as the world's first commercial computer.

1952 - The Nautilus was dedicated. It was the first nuclear powered submarine.

1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

1954 - Americans took part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.

1965 - A military triumvirate took control in Saigon, South Vietnam.

1967 - Mariner 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL. The space probe's flight took it past Venus.

1982 - Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the Falkland Islands.

1987 - The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title by defeating the defending Boston Celtics.

1989 - Former U.S. President Reagan received an honorary knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld police checkpoints that are used to examine drivers for signs of intoxication.

1994 - The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks. It was the first time the Rangers had won the cup in 54 years.

2002 - Actor Kirk Douglas received the UCLA Medal. The award is presented to people for cultural, political and humanitarian achievements.

[Raistlin]

1215 - King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta.

1381 - The English peasant revolt was crushed in London.

1389 - Ottoman Turks crushed Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.

1607 - Colonists in North America completed James Fort in Jamestown, VA.

1667 - Jean-Baptiste Denys administered the first fully-documented human blood transfusion. He successfully transfused the blood of a sheep to a 15-year old boy.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The result was a little spark that showed the relationship between lightning and electricity.

1775 - George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

1836 - Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.

1844 - Charles Goodyear was granted a patent for the process that strengthens rubber.

1846 - The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty.

1864 - An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.

1866 - Prussia attacked Austria.

1877 - Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

1898 - The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of Hawaii.

1909 - Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.

1911 - The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.

1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.

1917 - Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

1919 - Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown won $50,000 for successfully completing the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic plane flight.

1938 - Johnny Vandemeer (Cincinnati Reds) pitched his second straight no-hitter.

1940 - The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.

1944 - American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.

1947 - The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.

1948 - Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn would be closed indefinitely "for repairs."

1958 - Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.

1964 - The last French troops left Algeria.

1978 - King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.

1981 - The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.

1982 - In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.

1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.

1986 - Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, reported that the chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dismissed for mishandling the incident at the plant.

1992 - It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.

1992 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell "potato" with an "e" on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on a faulty flash card that had been written by the student's teacher.

1994 - Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

1999 - South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.

 

[Raistlin]

0362 - Emperor Julian issued an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.

1579 - Sir Francis Drake claimed San Francisco Bay for England. (California)

1775 - The British took Bunker Hill outside of Boston.

1789 - The Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly, and began to frame a constitution.

1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy into his empire.

1837 - Charles Goodyear received his first patent. The patent was for a process that made rubber easier to work with.

1848 - Austrian General Alfred Windischgratz crushed a Czech uprising in Prague.

1854 - The Red Turban revolt broke out in Guangdong, China.

1856 - The Republican Party opened its first national convention in Philadelphia.

1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed Dr. Thaddeus Lowe demonstrate the use of a hydrogen balloon.

1872 - George M. Hoover began selling whiskey in Dodge City, Kansas. The town had been dry up until this point.

1876 - General George Crook’s command was attacked and defeated on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.

1879 - Thomas Edison received an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the trustees of Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ.

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.

1912 - The German Zeppelin SZ 111 burned in its hanger in Friedrichshafen.

1913 - U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.

1917 - The Russian Duma met in a secret session in Petrograd and voted for an immediate Russian offensive against the German Army. (World War I)

1924 - The Fascist militia marched into Rome.

1926 - Spain threatened to quit the League of Nations if Germany was allowed to join.

1928 - Amelia Earhart began the flight that made her the first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

1930 - The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill became law. It placed the highest tariff on imports to the U.S.

1931 - British authorities in China arrested Indochinese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

1932 - The U.S. Senate defeated the bonus bill as 10,000 veterans massed around the Capitol.

1940 - The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War II.

1941 - WNBT-TV in New York City, NY, was granted the first construction permit to operate a commercial TV station in the U.S.

1942 - Yank, a weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, began publication. The term "G.I. Joe" was first used in a comic strip by Dave Breger.

1942 - "Suspense" debuted on CBS Radio.

1944 - French troops landed on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

1944 - The republic of Iceland was established.

1950 - Dr. Richard H. Lawler performed the first kidney transplant in a 45-minute operation in Chicago, IL.

1953 - Soviet tanks fought thousands of Berlin workers that were rioting against the East German government.

1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court banned the required reading of the Lord's prayer and Bible in public schools.

1965 - Twenty-seven B-52’s hit Viet Cong outposts but lost two planes in South Vietnam.

1969 - Boris Spasky became chess champion of the world after checkmating former champion Tigran Petrosian in Moscow.

1970 - North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in Cambodia.

1982 - Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on "The CBS Morning News."

1985 - Judy Norton-Taylor was photographed for "Playboy" magazine.

1991 - The Parliament of South Africa repealed the Population Registration Act. The act had required that all South Africans for classified by race at birth.
 

[Raistlin]

1314 - Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce won over Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland.

1340 - The English fleet defeated the French fleet at Sluys, off the Flemish coast.

1497 - Italian explorer John Cabot, sailing in the service of England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland.

1509 - Henry VIII was crowned King of England.

1664 - New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded.

1675 - King Philip's War began when Indians massacre colonists at Swansee, Plymouth colony.

1717 - The Freemasons were founded in London.

1793 - The first republican constitution in France was adopted.

1812 - Napoleon crossed the Nieman River and invaded Russia.

1844 - Charles Goodyear was granted U.S. patent #3,633 for vulcanized rubber.

1859 - At the Battle of Solferino, also known as the Battle of the Three Sovereigns, the French army led by Napoleon III defeated the Austrian army under Franz Joseph I in northern Italy.

1861 - Federal gunboats attacked Confederate batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia.

1862 - U.S. intervention saved the British and French at the Dagu forts in China.

1869 - Mary Ellen "Mammy" Pleasant officially became the Vodoo Queen in San Francisco, CA.

1896 - Booker T. Washington became the first African American to receive an honorary MA degree from Howard University.

1910 - The Japanese army invaded Korea.

1913 - Greece and Serbia annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over Macedonia and Thrace.

1922 - The American Professional Football Association took the name of The National Football League.

1931 - The Soviet Union and Afghanistan signed a treaty of neutrality.

1940 - France signed an armistice with Italy.

1940 - TV cameras were used for the first time in a political convention as the Republicans convened in Philadelphia, PA.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt pledged all possible support to the Soviet Union.

1947 - Kenneth Arnold reported seeing flying saucers over Mt. Rainier, Washington.

1948 - The Soviet Union began the Berlin Blockade.

1953 - John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announced their engagement.

1955 - Soviet MIG's down a U.S. Navy patrol plane over the Bering Strait.

1962 - The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-7, after 22 innings.

1964 - The Federal Trade Commission announced that starting in 1965, cigarette manufactures would be required to include warnings on their packaging about the harmful effects of smoking.

1968 - "Resurrection City," a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People's March on Washington D.C., was closed down by authorities.

1970 - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

1970 - The movie "Myra Breckinridge" premiered.

1971 - The National Basketball Association modified its four-year eligibility rule to allow for collegiate hardship cases.

1982 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that no president could be sued for damages connected with actions taken while serving as President of the United States.

1985 - Natalia Solzhenitsyn the wife of exiled, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, became a U.S. citizen.

1986 - The Empire State Building was designated a National Historic Landmark.

1997 - The U.S. Air Force released a report titled "The Roswell Report, Case Closed" that dismissed the claims that an alien spacecraft had crashed in Roswell, NM, in 1947.

1998 - AT&T Corp. struck a deal to buy cable TV giant Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.7 billion.

1998 - Walt Disney World Resort admitted its 600-millionth guest.

2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juries, not judges, must make the decision to give a convicted killer the death penalty.

2002 - A painting from Monet's Waterlilies series sold for $20.2 million.

2003 - In Paris, France, manuscripts by novelist Georges Simenon brought in $325,579. The original manuscript of "La Mort de Belle" raised $81,705.
 

[Raistlin]

1097 - The Crusaders defeated the Turks at Dorylaeum.

1841 - The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train.

1859 - Charles Blondin became the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

1894 - Korea declared independence from China and asked for Japanese aid.

1908 - A meteor explosion in Siberia knocked down trees in a 40-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away.

1912 - Belgian workers went on strike to demand universal suffrage.

1913 - Fighting broke out between Bulgaria and Greece and Spain. It was the beginning of the Second Balkan War.

1915 - During World War I, the Second Battle Artois ended when the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.

1921 - U.S. President Warren G. Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft chief justice of the United States.

1922 - Irish rebels in London assassinate Sir Henry Wilson, the British deputy for Northern Ireland.

1930 - France pulled its troops out of Germany’s Rhineland.

1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."

1935 - Fascists caused an uproar at the League of Nations when Haile Selassie of Ethiopia speaks.

1936 - Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published.

1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman ordered U.S. troops into Korea and authorizes the draft.

1951 - On orders from Washington, General Matthew Ridgeway broadcasts that the United Nations was willing to discuss an armistice with North Korea.

1952 - CBS-TV debuted "The Guiding Light."

1953 - The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.

1955 - The U.S. began funding West Germany’s rearmament.

1957 - The American occupation headquarters in Japan was dissolved.

1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.

1960 - The Katanga province seceded from Congo (upon Congo's independence from Belgium).

1962 - Los Angeles Dodger Sandy Koufax pitched his first no-hitter in a game with the New York Mets.

1964 - The last of U.N. troops left Congo after a four-year effort to bring stability to the country.

1970 - The Cincinnati Reds moved to their new home at Riverfront Stadium.

1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could not prevent the Washington Post or the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers.

1971 - The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth. The three cosmonauts were found dead inside.

1971 - The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

1974 - Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected in Toronto, Canada.

1974 - The July 4th scene from the Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" was filmed.

1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced his opposition to the B-1 bomber.

1984 - The longest professional football game took place in the United States Football League (USFL). The Los Angeles Express beat the Michigan Panthers 27-21 after 93 minutes and 33 seconds.

1985 - Yul Brynner left his role as the King of Siam after 4,600 performances in "The King and I."

1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.

1994 - The U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

1998 - Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.

2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the E-Signature bill to give the same legal validity to an electronic signature as a signature in pen and ink.

2004 - The international Cassini spacecraft entered Saturn's orbit. The craft had been on a nearly seven-year journey.
 

[Raistlin]

0096 - Vespasian, a Roman Army leader, was hailed as a Roman Emperor by the Egyptian legions.

1543 - England and Scotland signed the peace of Greenwich.

1596 - An English fleet under the Earl of Essex, Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Vere captured and sacked Cadiz, Spain.

1690 - The French defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance at Fleurus in the Netherlands.

1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte took Alexandria, Egypt.

1845 - Uniform postal rates went into effect throughout the United States. The Act of Congress was passed on March 3, 1845.

1847 - In New York City, the U.S. Post Office issued its first adhesive stamps. The two stamps available were a 5-cent Benjamin Franklin and a 10-cent George Washington.

1862 - The U.S. Congress established the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

1863 - During the U.S. Civil War, the first day's fighting at Gettysburg began.

1867 - Canada became an independent dominion.

1874 - The Philadelphia Zoological Society zoo opened as the first zoo in the United States.

1876 - Montenegro declared war on the Turks.

1893 - The first bicycle race track in America to be made out of wood was opened in San Francisco, CA.

1897 - Three years after the first issue of "Billboard Advertising" was published, the publication was renamed, "The Billboard".

1898 - During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.

1905 - The USDA Forest Service was created within the Department of Agriculture. The agency was given the mission to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands for present and future generations.

1909 - Thomas Edison began commercially manufacturing his new "A" type alkaline storage batteries.

1916 - The massive Allied offensive known as the Battle of the Somme began in France. The battle was the first to use tanks.

1934 - The Federal Communications Commission replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the regulator of broadcasting in the United States.

1940 - In Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic. The bridge collapsed during a wind storm on November 7, 1940.

1941 - Bulova Watch Company sponsored the first TV commercial in New York City, NY.

1942 - German troops captured Sevestpol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.

1943 - The U.S. Government began automatically withholding federal income tax from paychecks.

1945 - New York established the New York State Commission Against Discrimination to prevent discrimination in employment because of race, creed or natural origin. It was the first such agency in the U.S.

1946 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 that incorporated the Civil Air Patrol as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. The Civil Air Patrol was created on December 1, 1941.

1946 - The U.S. exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1948 - The price of a subway ride in New York City was increased from 5 cents to 10.

1950 - American ground troops arrived in South Korea to stem the tide of the advancing North Korean army.

1951 - Bob Feller set a major league baseball record as he pitched his third no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians.

1960 - Somalia gained its independence from Britain through the unification of Somaliland with Italian Somalia.

1961 - British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.

1961 - The first community air-raid shelter was built. The shelter in Boise, ID had a capacity of 1,000 people and family memberships sold for $100.

1963 - The U.S. postmaster introduced the five-digit ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code.

1966 - The Medicare federal insurance program went into effect.

1968 - The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was signed by 60 countries. It limited the spreading of nuclear material for military purposes. On May 11, 1995, the treaty was extended indefinitely.

1969 - Britain's Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales.

1974 - Isavel Peron became the president of Argentina upon the death of her husband, Juan.

1979 - Susan B. Anthony was commemorated on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

1979 - Sony introduced the Walkman.

1980 - "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that provided for 2 acres of land near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1981 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that candidates for federal office had an "affirmative right" to go on national television.

1985 - Robin Yount (Milwaukee Brewers) got the 1,800th hit of his career.

1987 - John Kevin Hill, at age 11, became the youngest to fly across the U.S. when he landed at National Airport in Washington, DC.

1989 - The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty, went into effect. It limited the production of ozone-destroying chemicals.

1991 - Court TV began airing.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact dissolved.

1994 - Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization visited the Gaza Strip.

1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.

1999 - The U.S. Justice Department released new regulations that granted the attorney general sole power to appoint and oversee special counsels. The 1978 independent-counsel statute expired on June 30.

2003 - In Hong Kong, thousands of protesters marched to show their opposition to anti-subversion legislation.
 

[Raistlin]

1806 - A Spanish army repelled the British during their attempt to retake Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1811 - Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.

1814 - U.S. troops under Jacob Brown defeated a superior British force at Chippewa, Canada.

1830 - France occupied the North African city of Algiers.

1832 - The German government began curtailing freedom of the press after German Democrats advocate a revolt against Austrian rule.

1839 - British naval forces bombarded Dingai on Zhoushan Island in China and then occupied it.

1863 - U.S. Federal troops occupied Vicksburg, MS, and distributed supplies to the citizens.

1865 - William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London.

1865 - The U.S. Secret Service Division was created to combat currency counterfeiting, forging and the altering of currency and securities..

1892 - Andrew Beard was issued a patent for the rotary engine.

1916 - Adelina and August Van Buren started on the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour to be attempted by two women. They started in New York City and arrived in San Diego, CA, on September 12, 1916.

1935 - "Hawaii Call" was broadcast for the first time.

1935 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. The act authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.

1940 - During World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke diplomatic relations.

1941 - German troops reached the Dnieper River in the Soviet Union.

1943 - The battle of Kursk began as German tanks attack the Soviet salient. It was the largest tank battle in history.

1946 - The bikini bathing suit, created by Louis Reard, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris. Micheline Bernardini wore the two-piece outfit.

1947 - Larry Doby signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League.

1948 - Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.

1950 - U.S. forces engaged the North Koreans for the first time at Osan, South Korea.

1951 - Dr. William Shockley announced that he had invented the junction transistor.

1962 - Algeria became independent after 132 years of French rule.

1975 - Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title when he defeated Jimmy Connors.

1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court weakened the 70-year-old "exclusionary rule," deciding that evidence seized with defective court warrants could be used against defendants in criminal trials.

1989 - Former U.S. National Security Council aide Oliver North received a $150,000 fine and a suspended prison term for his part in the Iran-Contra affair. The convictions were later overturned.

1991 - Regulators shut down the Pakistani-managed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in eight countries. The charge was fraud, drug money laundering and illegal infiltration into the U.S. banking system.

1995 - The U.S. Justice Department decided not to take antitrust action against Ticketmaster.

1998 - Japan joined U.S. and Russia in space exploration with the launching of the Planet-B probe to Mars.

2000 - Jordanian security agents shot and killed a Syrian hijacker after he threw a grenade that exploded and wounded 15 passengers aboard a Royal Jordanian airliner.

2000 - 10 Bengal tigers, including 7 rare white tigers, died at the Nandankanan Zoo in India. The tigers died of trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness).

2000 - Euan Blair, the oldest son of British prime minister Tony Blair, was arrested after police found him drunk and lying on the ground in London's Leicester Square.

 

[Raistlin]

1099 - Christian soldiers on the First Crusade march around Jerusalem.

1608 - The first French settlement at Quebec was established by Samuel de Champlain.

1663 - King Charles II of England granted a charter to Rhode Island.

1693 - Uniforms for police in New York City were authorized.

1709 - Peter the Great defeated Charles XII at Poltava, in the Ukraine, The Swedish empire was effectively ended.

1755 - Britain broke off diplomatic relations with France as their disputes in the New World intensified.

1776 - Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the U.S. Declaration of Independence to a crowd at Independence Square in Philadelphia.

1794 - French troops captured Brussels, Belgium.

1795 - Kent County Free School changed its name to Washington College. It was the first college to be named after U.S. President George Washington. The school was established by an act of the Maryland Assembly in 1723.

1815 - Louis XVIII returned to Paris after the defeat of Napoleon.

1865 - C.E. Barnes patented the machine gun.

1879 - The first ship to use electric lights departed from San Francisco, CA.

1881 - Edward Berner, druggist in Two Rivers, WI, poured chocolate syrup on ice cream in a dish. To this time chocolate syrup had only been used for making ice-cream sodas.

1889 - The Wall Street Journal was first published.

1889 - John L. Sullivan defeated Jake Kilrain, in the last championship bare-knuckle fight. The fight lasted 75 rounds.

1907 - Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first "Follies" on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.

1919 - U.S. President Wilson returned from the Versailles Peace Conference in France.

1947 - Demolition work began in New York City for the new permanent headquarters of the United Nations.

1950 - General Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.

1953 - Notre Dame announced that the next five years of its football games would be shown in theatres over closed circuit TV.

1960 - The Soviet Union charged Gary Powers with espionage. He was shot down in a U-2 spy plane.

1963 - All Cuban-owned assets in the United States were frozen.

1969 - The U.S. Patent Office issued a patent for the game "Twister."

1970 - The San Francisco Giant’s Jim Ray Hart became the first National League player in 59 seasons to collect six runs batted (RBI) during a single inning.

1981 - The Solar Challenger became the frist solar-powered airplane to cross the English Channel.

1986 - Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes.

1997 - The Mayo Clinic and the U.S. government warned that the diet-drug combination known as "fen-phen" could cause serious heart and lung damage.

1997 - NATO invited Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance in 1999.

2000 - J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was released in the U.S. It was the fourth Harry Potter book.

2010 - The Solar Impulse completed the first 24-hour flight by a solar powered plane.
 

[Raistlin]

0118 - Hadrian, Rome's new emperor, made his entry into the city.

0455 - Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.

1540 - England's King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.

1609 - In a letter to the crown, the emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia freedom of worship.

1755 - General Edward Braddock was mortally wounded when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia. He died on July 13.

1776 - The American Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York.

1789 - In Versailles, the French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution.

1790 - The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.

1792 - S.L. Mitchell of Columbia College in New York City became the first Professor of Agriculture.

1808 - The leather-splitting machine was patented by Samuel Parker.

1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain.

1847 - A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

1872 - The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel.

1877 - Alexander Graham Bell, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders and Thomas Watson formed the Bell Telephone Company.

1878 - The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.

1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1922 - Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100 meters freestyle in less than a minute.

1935 - Norman Bright ran the two mile event in the record time of 9 minutes, 13.2 seconds at a meet in New York City.

1943 - American and British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily.

1947 - The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.

1951 - U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.

1953 - New York Airways began the first commuter passenger service by helicopter.

1968 - The first All-Star baseball game to be played indoors took place at the Astrodome in Houston, TX.

1971 - The United States turned over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.

1985 - Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals was named the Most Valuable Player in the United States Football League (USFL).

1985 - Joe Namath signed a five-year pact with ABC-TV to provide commentary for "Monday Night Football".

1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.

2005 - Danny Way, a daredevil skateboarder, rolled down a large ramp and jumped across the Great Wall of China. He was the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid.

2015 - The South Carolina House of Representatives approved taking down the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds. The flag was removed the next day and taken to a state military museum.

 

[Raistlin]

1609 - The Catholic states in Germany set up a league under the leadership of Maximillian of Bavaria.

1679 - The British crown claimed New Hampshire as a royal colony.

1776 - The statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.

1778 - In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declared war on England.

1821 - U.S. troops took possession of Florida. The territory was sold by Spain.

1832 - U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoed legislation to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.

1866 - Edison P. Clark patented his indelible pencil.

1890 - Wyoming became the 44th state to join the United States.

1900 - ‘His Master’s Voice’, was registered with the U.S. Patent Office. The logo of the Victor Recording Company, and later, RCA Victor, shows the dog, Nipper, looking into the horn of a gramophone machine.

1910 - W.R. Brookins became the first to fly an airplane at an altitude of one mile.

1913 - The highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was 134 degrees in Death Valley, CA.

1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was hand delivered to the U.S. Senate by President Wilson.

1925 - The official news agency of the Soviet Union, TASS, was established.

1928 - George Eastman first demonstrated color motion pictures.

1929 - The U.S. government began issuing paper money in the small size.

1938 - Howard Hughes completed a 91 hour flight around the world.

1940 - The 114-day Battle of Britain began during World War II.

1943 - Arthur Ashe, the first African-American inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, was born. He had won 33 career titles.

1947 - Saab introduced the Model 92 prototype as its first automobile.

1949 - The first practical rectangular television was presented. The picture tube measured 12 by 16 and sold for $12.

1951 - Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean conflict began at Kaesong.

1951 - Sugar Ray Robinson was defeated for only the second time in 133 fights as Randy Turpin took the middleweight crown.

1953 - American forces withdraw from Pork Chop Hill in Korea after heavy fighting.

1962 - The Telstar Communications satellite was launched. The satellite relayed TV and telephone signals between Europe and the U.S.

1962 - Fred Baldasare swam the English Channel underwater. It was a 42 miles and took 18 hours.

1969 - The National League was divided up into two baseball divisions.

1973 - Britain granted the Bahamas their independence after three centuries of British colonial rule.

1984 - Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden, of the New York Mets, became the youngest player to appear in an All-Star Game as a pitcher. He was 19 years, 7 months, and 24 days old.

1985 - Coca-Cola resumed selling the old formula of Coke, it was renamed "Coca-Cola Classic." It was also announced that they would continue to sell "New" Coke.

1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev won re-election as the leader of the Soviet Communist Party.

1991 - Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic.

1991 - U.S. President Bush lifted economic sanctions against South Africa, citing its "profound transformation" toward racial equality.

1993 - Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki became the first man to run 10,000 meters in less than 27 minutes.

1997 - Scientists in London said DNA from a Neanderthal skeleton supported a theory that all humanity descended from an "African Eve" 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

1998 - The World Bank approved a $700 million loan to Thailand.

1998 - The U.S. military delivered the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie to his family in St. Louis. He had been placed in Arlington Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown in 1984. His identity had been confirmed with DNA tests.

1999 - The heads of six African nations that had troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a cease-fire agreement that would end the civil war in that nation.

2002 - Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" sold for $76.2 million at Sotheby's.

2015 - In South Carolina, the Confederate flag was removed from the Capitol grounds and taken to a state military museum.

[Raistlin]

1248

The city of Seville, Spain, surrenders to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.
1785

John Hancock is elected president of the Continental Congress for the second time.
1863

Union forces win the Battle of Orchard Knob, Tennessee.
1863

The Battle of Chattanooga, one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War, begins (also in Tennessee).
1903

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Rigoletto.
1904

Russo-German talks break down because of Russia's insistence to consult France.
1909

The Wright brothers form a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.
1921

President Warren G. Harding signs the Willis Campell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbids doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.
1933

President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalls the American ambassador from Havana, Cuba, and urges stability in the island nation.
1934

The United States and Great Britain agree on a 5-5-3 naval ratio, with both countries allowed to build five million tons of naval ships while Japan can only build three. Japan will denounce the treaty.
1936

The United States abandons the American embassy in Madrid, Spain, which is engulfed by civil war.
1941

U.S. troops move into Dutch Guiana to guard the bauxite mines.
1942

The film Casablanca premieres in New York City.
1943

U.S. Marines declare the island of Tarawa secure.
1945

Wartime meat and butter rationing ends in the United States.
1953

North Korea signs 10-year aid pact with Peking.
1968

Four men hijack an American plane, with 87 passengers, from Miami to Cuba.
1980

In Europe's biggest earthquake since 1915, 3,000 people are killed in Italy.
1981

US Pres. Ronald Reagan signs top secret directive giving the CIA authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
1990

The first all-woman expedition to South Pole sets off from Antarctica on the part of a 70-day trip; the group includes 12 Russians, 3 Americans and 1 Japanese.
1992

The first Smartphone, IBM Simon, introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2005

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected president of Liberia; she is the first woman to lead an African nation.
2006

In the second-deadliest day of sectarian violence in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 war, 215 people are killed and nearly 260 injured by bombs in Sadr City.
2011

Yemeni President Ali Abullah Saleh signs a deal to to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity; the agreement came after 11 months of protests.

[Raistlin]

1520

Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, having discovered a strait at the tip of South America, enters the Pacific.
1729

Natchez Indians massacre most of the 300 French settlers and soldiers at Fort Rosalie, Louisiana.
1861

The Confederate Congress admits Missouri to the Confederacy, although Missouri has not yet seceded from the Union.
1868

Mt. Etna in Sicily violently erupts.
1872

The Modoc War of 1872-73 begins in northern California when fighting breaks out between Modoc Chief Captain jack and a cavalry detail led by Captain James Jackson.
1899

The British are victorious over the Boers at Modder River.
1919

Lady Astor is elected the first woman in Parliament.
1925

The forerunner of the Grand Ole Opry, called the WSM Barn Dance, opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
1935

The German Reich declares all men ages 18 to 45 as army reservists.
1937

Spanish leader Francisco Franco blockades the Spanish coast.
1939

The Soviet Union scraps its nonaggression pact with Finland.
1941

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise departs from Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat fighters to Wake Island. This mission saves the carrier from destruction when the Japanese attack.
1943

Sir Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt meet at Tehran, Iran, to hammer out war aims.
1944

The first shipment of supplies reach Antwerp by convoy, a new route for the Allies.
1948

Dr. Edwin Land’s first Polaroid cameras go on sale in Boston.
1950

In Korea, 200,000 Communist troops launch attack on UN forces.
1961

Ernie Davis becomes the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
1963

Cape Canaveral is renamed Cape Kennedy.
1971

The Anglican Church ordains the first two women as priests.
1975

East Timor declares independence from Portugal.
1980

Operation Morvarid (Iran-Iraq War) takes place; Iranian Navy destroys over 70% of Iraqi Navy.
1984

Republican Robert Dole is elected Senate majority leader.
1989

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.
1991

South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.
2002

Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

[Raistlin]

1760

Major Roger Rogers takes possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain.
1787

Louis XVI promulgates an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.
1812

The last elements of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Armee retreats across the Beresina River in Russia.
1863

The Battle of Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., ends with a Confederate withdrawal.
1864

Colonel John M. Chivington's 3rd Colorado Volunteers massacre Black Kettles' camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colo.
1903

An Inquiry into the U.S. Postal Service demonstrates the government has lost millions in fraud.
1923

An international commission headed by American banker Charles Dawes is set up to investigate the German economy.
1929

Commander Richard Byrd makes the first flight over the South Pole.
1931

The Spanish government seizes large estates for land redistribution.
1939

Soviet planes bomb an airfield at Helsinki, Finland.
1948

The Metropolitan Opera is televised for the first time as the season opens with "Othello."
1948

The popular children's television show, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, premieres.
1949

The United States announces it will conduct atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1961

NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos into Earth orbit.
1962

Algeria bans the Communist Party.
1963

President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Chief Justice Earl Warren head of a commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
1967

US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation.
1972

Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game.
2007

Armed forces of the Philippines besiege The Peninsula Manila in response to a mutiny led by Senator Antonio Trillanes.

[Raistlin]

1135
 
Henry I of England dies and the crown is passed to his nephew Stephen of Bloise.
1581
 
Edmund Champion and other Jesuit martyrs are hanged at Tyburn, England, for sedition, after being tortured.
1861
 
The U.S. gunboat Penguin seizes the Confederate blockade runner Albion carrying supplies worth almost $100,000.
1862
 
President Abraham Lincoln gives the State of the Union address to the 37th Congress.
1863
 
Belle Boyd, a Confederate spy, is released from prison in Washington.
1881
 
Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp are exonerated in court for their action in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz.
1900
 
Kaiser Wilhelm II refuses to meet with Boer leader Paul Kruger in Berlin.
1905
 
Twenty officers and 230 guards are arrested in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the revolt at the Winter Palace.
1908
 
The Italian Parliament debates the future of the Triple Alliance and asks for compensation for Austria's action in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1909
 
President William Howard Taft severs official relations with Nicaragua's Zelaya government and declares support for the revolutionaries.
1916
 
King Constantine of Greece refuses to surrender to the Allies.
1918
 
An American army of occupation enters Germany.
1925
 
After a seven-year occupation, 7,000 British troops evacuate Cologne, Germany.
1933
 
Nazi storm troops become an official organ of the Reich.
1934
 
Josef Stalin's aide, Sergei Kirov, is assassinated in Leningrad.
1941
 
Japan's Tojo rejects U.S. proposals for a Pacific settlement as fantastic and unrealistic.
1941
 
Great Britain declares a state of emergency in Malaya following reports of Japanese attacks.
1941
 
The first Civil Air Patrol is organized in the United States.
1942
 
National gasoline rationing goes into effect in the United States.
1955
 
Rosa Parks refuses to sit in the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, defying the South's segregationist laws.
1969
 
America's first draft lottery since 1942 is held.
1971
 
Indian Army recaptures part of Kashmir, which had been occupied by Pakistan.
1981
 
AIDS virus officially recognized.
1986
 
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North pleads the 5th Amendment before a Senate panel investigating the Iran-Contra arms sale.
1988
 
Benazir Bhutto, politician, becomes the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Pakistan and the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state
1989
 
East Germany's parliament changes its constitution, abolishing a section that gave the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
1990
 
Channel Tunnel sections from France and the UK meet beneath the English Channel.
1991
 
Ukraine's voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the USSR.
2001
 
Trans World Airlines' final flight following the carrier's purchase by American Airlines; TWA began operating 76 years earlier. The final flight, 220, piloted by Capt. Bill Compton, landed at St. Louis International Airport.

[Raistlin]

468
 
Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano succeed their father, Piero de Medici, as rulers of Florence, Italy.
1762
 
France cedes to Spain all lands west of the Mississippi--the territory known as Upper Louisiana.
1818
 
Illinois admitted into the Union as the 21st state.
1800
 
The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Hohenlinden, near Munich.
1847
 
Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney establish the North Star, and anti-slavery paper.
1862
 
Confederate raiders attack a Federal forage train on the Hardin Pike near Nashville, Tenn.
1863
 
Confederate General James Longstreet moves his army east and north toward Greeneville. This withdrawal marks the end of the Fall Campaign in Tennessee.
1864
 
Major General William Tecumseh Sherman meets with slight resistance from Confederate troops at Thomas Station on his march to the sea.
1906
 
The U.S. Supreme Court orders Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) leaders extradited to Idaho for trial in the Steunenberg murder case.
1915
 
The United States expels German attaches on spy charges.
1916
 
French commander Joseph Joffre is dismissed after his failure at the Somme. General Robert Nivelle is the new French commander in chief.
1918
 
The Allied Conference ends in London where they decide that Germany must pay for the war.
1925
 
The League of Nations orders Greece to pay an indemnity for the October invasion of Bulgaria.
1926
 
British reports claim that German soldiers are being trained in the Soviet Union.
1950
 
The Chinese close in on Pyongyang, Korea, and UN forces withdraw southward.
1965
 
The National Council of Churches asks the United States to halt the massive bombings in North Vietnam.
1977
 
The State Department proposes the admission of 10,000 more Vietnamese refugees to the United States.
1979
 
Eleven are dead and eight injured in a mad rush to see a rock band (The Who) at a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1984
 
Toxic gas leaks from a Union Carbide plant and results in the deaths of thousands in Bhopal, India.
1989
 
Presidents George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announce the official end to the Cold War at a meeting in Malta.
1992
 
A test engineer for Sema Group sends the world's first text message, using a personal computer and the Vodafone network.
1997
 
Representatives of 121 nations sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting the manufacture or deployment of antipersonnel landmines; the People's Republic of China, the US and the USSR do not sign.
2005
 
First manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail takes place in Mojave, Cal.
2009
 
Suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministries of the Transitional Federal Government.

[Raistlin]

771
 
With the death of his brother Carloman, Charlemagne becomes sole ruler of the Frankish Empire.
1861
 
The U.S. Senate, voting 36 to 0, expels Senator John C. Brekinridge of Kentucky because of his joining the Confederate Army.
1861
 
Queen Victoria of Britain forbids the export of gunpowder, firearms and all materials for their production.
1862
 
Winchester, Va., falls into Union hands, resulting in the capture of 145 Southern soldiers.
1863
 
Seven solid days of bombardment ends at Charleston, S.C. The Union fires some 1,307 rounds.
1872
 
The U.S. brigantine Marie Celeste is found adrift and deserted with its cargo intact, in the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and Portugal.
1900
 
The French National Assembly, successor to the States-General, rejects Nationalist General Mercier's proposal to plan an invasion of England.
1914
 
The first Seaplane Unit formed by the German Navy officially comes into existence and begins operations from Zeebrugge, Belgium.
1918
 
France cancels trade treaties in order to compete in the postwar economic battles.
1941
 
Operation Taifun (Typhoon), which was launched by the German armies on October 2, 1941, as a prelude to taking Moscow, is halted because of freezing temperatures and lack of serviceable aircraft.
1942
 
U.S. planes make the first raids on Naples, Italy.
1947
 
Tennessee William's play A Streetcar Named Desire premieres on Broadway starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy.
1950
 
The University of Tennessee defies court rulings by rejecting five Negro applicants.
1952
 
The Grumman XS2F-1 makes its first flight.
1959
 
Peking pardons Pu Yi, ex-emperor of China and of the Japanese puppet-state of Manchukuo.
1981
 
President Ronald Reagan broadens the power of the CIA by allowing spying in the United States.
1985
 
Robert McFarland resigns as National Security Advisor. Admiral John Poindexter is named to succeed.
1991
 
The last American hostages held in Lebanon are released.
1992
 
US Pres. George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 troops to Somalia during the Somali Civil War.

[Raistlin]

1660
 
The first Shakespearian actress to appear on an English stage (she is believed to be a Ms. Norris) makes her debut as Desdemona.
1861
 
CSS Sumter captures the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The American Civil War is now affecting the Northern whaling industry.
1863
 
Union General William Averell's cavalry destroys railroads in the southwestern part of West Virginia.
1914
 
The German cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg, and Liepzig are sunk by a British force in the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
1920
 
President Woodrow Wilson declines to send a representative to the League of Nations in Geneva.
1932
 
Japan tells the League of Nations that it has no control over her designs in China.
1941
 
Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita begins his attack against the British army at Singapore.
1943
 
U.S. carrier-based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands.
1944
 
The United States conducts the longest, most effective air raid on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima.
1948
 
The United Nations approves the recognition of South Korea.
1967
 
In the biggest battle yet in the Mekong Delta, 365 Viet Cong are killed.
1968
 
South Vietnam's Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky arrives in Paris for peace talks.
1980
 
John Lennon is shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.
1982
 
The Washington, D.C., police shoot and kill a man threatening to blow up the Washington Monument.
1987
 
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed.
1987
 
An Israeli army tank transporter kills 4 Palestinian refugees and injures 7 others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, leading to the First Intifada.
1991
 
The leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine sign an agreement that dissolves the Soviet Union and establishes the Commonwealth of Independent States.
2004
 
The Cuzco Declaration signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
2010
 
SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
2010
 
The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus.

[Raistlin]

1753
 
George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivers an ultimatum to the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain's claim to the entire Ohio River valley.
1770
 
The British soldiers responsible for the "Boston Massacre" are acquitted on murder charges.
1862
 
The Union loses its first ship to a torpedo, USS Cairo, in the Yazoo River.
1863
 
Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners.
1901
 
Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland.
1927
 
Communists forces seize Canton, China.
1930
 
The Spanish Civil War begins as rebels take a border town.
1930
 
The last Allied troops withdraw from the Saar region in Germany.
1931
 
Under pressure from the Communists in Canton, Chiang Kai-shek resigns as president of the Nanking Government but remains the head of the Nationalist government that holds nominal rule over most of China.
1943
 
The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad.
1943
 
The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation.
1956
 
The United Nations calls for immediate Soviet withdrawal from Hungary.
1964
 
Kenya becomes a republic.
1964
 
Three Buddhist leaders begin a hunger strike to protest the government in Saigon.
1967
 
The United States ends the airlift of 6,500 men in Vietnam.
1979
 
South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan, acting without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa, alleging that the chief of staff was involved in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
1985
 
Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff at Gander, Newfoundland; among the 256 dead are 236 members of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division.
1991
 
The Russian Federation becomes independent from the USSR.
1995
 
Willie Brown beats incumbent mayor Frank Jordon to become the first African-American mayor of San Francisco.
2000
 
The US Supreme Court announces its decision in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending legal changes to the results of that year's Presidential election.