On This Day

[Raistlin]

1777 - The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, precursor to the U.S. Constitution.

1806 - Explorer Zebulon Pike spotted the mountaintop that became known as Pikes Peak.

1867 - the first stock ticker was unveiled in New York City.

1889 - Brazil's monarchy was overthrown.

1901 - Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid.

1902 - Anarchist Gennaro Rubin failed in his attempt to murder King Leopold II of Belgium.

1920 - The League of Nations met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.

1926 - The National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) debuted with a radio network of 24 stations. The first network radio broadcast was a four-hour "spectacular."

1939 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

1940 - The first 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under peacetime conscription.

1965 - The Soviet probe, Venera 3, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On March 1, 1966, it became the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet when it crashed on Venus.

1966 - The flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

1969 - In Washington, DC, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War.

1985 - Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland.

1986 - A government tribunal in Nicaragua convicted American Eugene Hasenfus of charges related to his role in delivering arms to Contra rebels. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and was pardoned a month later.

1986 - Ivan F. Boesky, reputed to be the highest-paid person on Wall Street, faced penalties of $100 million for insider stock trading. It was the highest penalty ever imposed by the SEC.

1988 - The Palestine National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, proclaimed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state at the close of a four-day conference in Algiers.

1992 - Richard Petty drove in the final race of his 35-year career.

1993 - A judge in Mineola, NY, sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher. Fisher was serving a prison sentence for shooting and wounding Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo.

1995 - Texaco agreed to pay $176 million to settle a race-discrimination lawsuit.

1999 - Representatives from China and the United States signed a major trade agreement that involved China's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

2000 - Three police officers from the Rampart division of the Los Angeles police department were convicted on several counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. One other officer was acquitted. The case was the first major case against the anti-gang unit.

2005 - In Amiens, France, Isabelle Dinoire became the first person to undergo a partial face transplant. She had been attacked by a dog earlier in the year.

2006 - Andy Warhol's painting of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong sold for $17.4 million. At the same auction "Orange Marilyn" sold for $16.2 million and "Sixteen Jackies" sold for $15.6 million.

[Raistlin]

1776 - British troops captured Fort Washington during the American Revolution.

1864 - Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the U.S. Civil War.

1885 - Canadian rebel Louis Riel was executed for high treason.

1907 - Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state.

1915 - Coca-Cola had its prototype for a contoured bottle patented. The bottle made its commercial debut the next year.

1933 - The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations for the first time.

1952 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown.

1957 - Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns) set an NFL season rushing record of 1163 yards after only eight games.

1966 - Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial of charges he had murdered his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.

1969 - The U.S. Army announced that several had been charged with massacre and the subsequent cover-up in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.

1973 - Skylab 3 carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on an 84-day mission.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

1981 - A vaccine for hepatitis B was approved. The vaccine had been developed at Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research.

1982 - An agreement was announced on the 57th day of a strike by National Football League (NFL) players.

1985 - Colonel Oliver North was put in charge of the shipment of HAWK anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

1988 - Estonia's parliament declared that the Baltic republic "sovereign," but stopped short of complete independence.

1994 - Major League Soccer announced that it would start its inaugural season in 1996.

1997 - China released Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident from jail for medical reasons. He had been incarcerated for almost 18 years.

1998 - In Burlington, WIsconsin, five high school students, aged 15 to 16, were arrested in an alleged plot to kill a carefully selected group of teachers and students.

1998 - It was announced that Monica Lewinsky had signed a deal for the North American rights to a book about her affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that union members could file discrimination lawsuits against employers even when labor contracts require arbitration.

1999 - Johnny Depp received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Chrica Adams, the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth, was shot four times in her car. She died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived. Carruth was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the murder.

2000 - Bill Clinton became the first serving U.S. president to visit Communist Vietnam.

2004 - A NASA unmanned "scramjet" (X-43A) reached a speed of nearly 10 times the speed of sound above the Pacific Ocean.

[Raistlin]

1558 - Elizabeth I ascended the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary Tudor.

1603 - Sir Walter Raleigh went on trial for treason.

1796 - Catherine the Great of Russia died at the age of 67.

1798 - Irish nationalist leader Wolfe Tone committed suicide while in jail awaiting execution.

1800 - The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, DC, in the partially completed Capitol building.

1869 - The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

1880 - The first three British female graduates received their Bachelor of Arts degrees from London University.

1903 - Russia's Social Democrats officially split into two groups - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

1904 - The first underwater submarine journey was taken, from Southampton, England, to the Isle of Wight.

1913 - The steamship Louise became the first ship to travel through the Panama Canal.

1913 - In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm banned the armed forces from dancing the tango.

1922 - Siberia voted for union with the U.S.S.R.

1962 - Washington's Dulles International Airport was dedicated by U.S. President Kennedy.

1968 - NBC cut away from the final minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule. The Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets 43-32.

1970 - The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1. The vehicle was released by Luna 17.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, FL, "people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto became the first woman leader of an Islamic country. She was elected in the first democratic elections in Pakistan in 11 years.

1990 - A mass grave was discovered by the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand. The bodies were believed to be those of World War II prisoners of war.

1990 - The Soviet government agreed to change the country's constitution.

1997 - 62 people were killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt. The attackers were killed by police.

1997 - Mario Lemieux was voted into the NHL Hall of Fame.

2001 - "Toys "R" Us Times Square - The Centre of the Toy Universe" opened in New York City.

2006 - Sony's PlayStation 3 went on sale in the United States.

2010 - Researcher's trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms. It was the first time humans had trapped antimatter.

[Raistlin]

1477 - William Caxton produced "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres," which was the first book to be printed in England.

1820 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer became the first American to sight the continent of Antarctica.

1865 - Samuel L. Clemens published "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" under the pen name "Mark Twain" in the New York "Saturday Press."

1883 - The U.S. and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.

1903 - The U.S. and Panama signed a treaty that granted the U.S. rights to build the Panama Canal.

1916 - Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I, called off the Battle of the Somme in France. The offensive began on July 1, 1916.

1928 - The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered in New York. It was Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," starring Mickey Mouse.
1936 - Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1942 - "The Skin of Our Teeth," by Thornton Wilder opened on Broadway.

1951 - Chuck Connors (Los Angeles Angels) became the first player to oppose the major league draft. Connors later became the star of the television show "The Rifleman."

1959 - William Wyler's "Ben-Hur" premiered at Loew's Theater in New York City's Times Square.

1966 - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean landed on the lunar surface during the second manned mission to the moon.

1976 - The parliament of Spain approved a bill that established a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1978 - In Jonestown, Guyana, Reverend Jim Jones persuaded his followers to commit suicide by drinking a death potion. Some people were shot to death. 914 cult members were left dead including over 200 children.

1983 - Argentina announced its ability to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

1985 - Joe Theismann (Washington Redskins) broke his leg after being hit by Lawrence Taylor (New York Giants). The injury ended Theismann's 12 year National Football League (NFL) career.

1987 - The U.S. Congress issued the Iran-Contra Affair report. The report said that President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.

1987 - 31 people died in a fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station.

1987 - CBS Inc. announced it had agreed to sell its record division to Sony Corp. for about $2 billion.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed major legislation provided the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.

1991 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in approving legislation aimed at protecting abortion facilities, staff and patients.

1993 - American Airlines flight attendants went on strike. They ended their strike only 4 days later.

1993 - Representatives from 21 South African political parties approved a new constitution.

1994 - Outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip, 15 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when Palestinian police opened fire on rioting worshipers.

1997 - The FBI officially pulled out of the probe into the TWA Flight 800 disaster. They said the explosion that destroyed the Boeing 747 was not caused by a criminal act. 230 people were killed.

1997 - First Union Corp. announced its purchase of CoreStates Financial Corp. for $16.1 billion. To date it was the largest banking deal in U.S. history.

1999 - 12 people were killed and 28 injured when a huge bonfire under construction collapsed at Texas A&M in College Station, TX.

[Raistlin]

1794 - Britain's King George III signed the Jay Treaty. It resolved the issues left over from the Revolutionary War.

1850 - The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued. Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, bought the policy in Madison, NJ.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

1893 - The first newspaper color supplement was published in the Sunday New York World.

1895 - The "paper pencil" was patented by Frederick E. Blaisdell.

1919 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles with a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against. A two-thirds majority was needed for ratification.

1928 - "Time" magazine presented its cover in color for the first time. The subject was Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

1942 - During World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front.

1954 - Two automatic toll collectors were placed in service on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.

1959 - Ford Motor Co. announced it was ending the production of the unpopular Edsel.

1966 - Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles Dodgers) announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made man's second landing on the moon.

1970 - Hafiz al-Assad seized power in Syria.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to set foot in Israel on an official visit.

1979 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) signed a four-year contract for $4.5 million. At the time, Ryan was the highest paid player in major league baseball.

1981 - U.S. Steel agreed to pay $6.3 million for Marathon Oil.

1984 - Dwight Gooden, 20-year-old, of the New York Mets, became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. (MLB)

1985 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.

1990 - NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty of nonaggression.

1993 - The U.S. Senate approved a sweeping $22.3 billion anti-crime measure.

1994 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to bomb rebel Serb forces striking from neighboring Croatia.

1997 - In Carlisle, IA, septuplets were born to Bobbi McCaughey. It was only the second known case where all seven were born alive.

1998 - The impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Clinton began.

1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million.

1998 - Michelle Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Istanbul, Turkey, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded a two-day summit after adopting a new arms accord. During the conference, Russia was criticized for its military campaign against Chechnya's separatist movement.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in U.S. history.

2002 - The oil tanker Prestige broke into two pieces and sank off northwest Spain. The tanker lost about 2 million gallons of fuel oil when it ruptured November 13th and was towed about 150 miles out to sea.

2002 - The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide.

2003 - Eight competing designs for a memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center were unveiled. One design would be built at the site of the World Trade Center.

[Raistlin]

1789 - New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1818 - Simon Bolivar formally declared Venezuela independent of Spain.

1873 - Budapest was formed when the rival cities of Buda and Pest were united to form the capital of Hungary.

1901 - The second Hay-Pauncefoot Treaty provided for construction of the Panama Canal by the U.S.

1910 - Francisco I. Madero led a revolution that broke out in Mexico.

1929 - The radio program "The Rise of the Goldbergs," later known as "The Goldbergs," made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.

1943 - During World War II, U.S. Marines began their landing on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands.

1945 - 24 Nazi leaders went before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.

1947 - Britain's Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey.

1959 - Britain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden met to create the European Free Trade Association.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis ended. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba and the U.S. ended its blockade of the island.

1962 - Mickey Mantle was named the American League Most Valuable Player for the third time.

1967 - The Census Clock at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, went past 200 million.

1969 - The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase out of the substance.

1970 - The majority in U.N. General Assembly voted to give China a seat, but two-thirds majority required for admission was not met.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.

1983 - An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie "The Day After." The movie depicted the outbreak of nuclear war.

1986 - Dr. Halfdan Maher, the director of the World Health Organization, announced the first coordinated global effort to fight the disease AIDS.

1987 - Police investigating the fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station, said that arson was unlikely to be the cause of the event that took 31 lives.

1988 - Egypt and China announced that they would recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestine National Council.

1989 - Over 200,000 people rallied peacefully in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding democratic reforms.

1990 - Saddam Hussein ordered another 250,000 Iraqi troops into the country of Kuwait.

1990 - The space shuttle Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, FL, after completing a secret military mission.

1992 - A fire seriously damaged the northwest side of Windsor Castle in England.

1993 - The U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill and legislation implementing NAFTA.

1994 - The Angolan government and rebels signed a treaty in Zambia to end 19 years of war.

1995 - Princess Diana admitted being unfaithful to Prince Charles in an interview that was broadcast on BBC Television.

1998 - Afghanistan's Taliban militia offered Osama bin Laden safe haven. Osama bin Laden had been accused of orchestrating two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and later terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

1998 - Forty-six states agreed to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tobacco industry. The industry also agreed to give up billboard advertising of cigarettes.

2001 - The U.S. Justice Department headquarters building was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy building by President George W. Bush. The event was held on what would have been Kennedy's 76th birthday.

[Raistlin]

1620 - The Mayflower reached Provincetown, MA. The ship discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, on December 26, 1620.

1694 - French author and philosopher Jean Francois Voltaire was born. At age 65 he spent only three days writing "Candide."

1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris.

1789 - North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1871 - M.F. Galethe patented the cigar lighter.

1877 - Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate.

1929 - Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his first art exhibit.

1934 - The New York Yankees purchased the contract of Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League.

1942 - The Alaska highway across Canada was formally opened.

1953 - British Natural History Museum authorities announced that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy terminated the quaratine measures against Cuba.

1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived in San Antonio, TX. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas.

1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

1979 - The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked by a mob that set the building afire and killed two Americans.

1980 - An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun. (Texas)

1980 - 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

1982 - The National Football League (NFL) resumed its season following a 57-day player's strike.

1985 - Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested after being accused of spying for Israel. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

1986 - U.S. Attorney General Meese was asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran arms sales.

1987 - An eight-day siege began at a detention center in Oakdale, LA, as Cuban detainees seized the facility and took hostages.

1989 - The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

1992 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood, issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations that he'd made unwelcome sexual advances toward 10 women in past years.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted against making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

1994 - NATO warplanes bombed an air base in Serb-held Croatia that was being used by Serb planes to raid the Bosnian "safe area" of Bihac.

1995 - France detonated its fourth underground nuclear blast at a test site in the South Pacific.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 5,000-mark (5,023.55) for the first time.

1999 - China announced that it had test-launched an unmanned space capsule that was designed for manned spaceflight.

2000 - The Florida Supreme Court granted Al Gore's request to keep the presidential recounts going.

2001 - Microsoft Corp. proposed giving $1 billion in computers, software, training and cash to more than 12,500 of the poorest schools in the U.S. The offer was intended as part of a deal to settle most of the company's private antitrust lawsuits.

2002 - NATO invited Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

[Raistlin]

1699 - A treaty was signed by Denmark, Russia, Saxony and Poland for the partitioning of the Swedish Empire.

1718 - English pirate Edward Teach (a.k.a. "Blackbeard") was killed during a battle off the coast of North Carolina. British soldiers cornered him aboard his ship and killed him. He was shot and stabbed more than 25 times.

1880 - Lillian Russell made her vaudeville debut in New York City.

1899 - The Marconi Wireless Company of America was incorporated in New Jersey.

1906 - The International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin adopted the SOS distress signal.

1909 - Helen Hayes appeared on stage for the first time. She was a member of the cast of "In Old Dutch."

1910 - Arthur F. Knight patented a steel shaft to replace wood shafts in golf clubs.

1928 - In Paris, "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel was first performed publicly.

1935 - The first trans-Pacific airmail flight began in Alameda, CA, when the flying boat known as the China Clipper left for Manila. The craft was carrying over 110,000 pieces of mail.

1942 - During World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad began.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss the measures for defeating Japan.

1950 - The lowest scoring game in the NBA was played. The Fort Wayne Pistons (later the Detroit Pistons) defeated the Minneapolis Lakers (later the Los Angeles Lakers) 19-18.

1961 - The film, "A Man for All Seasons", opened in New York City.

1963 - U.S. President Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, TX. Texas Governor John B. Connally was also seriously wounded. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was inaugurated as the 36th U.S. President.

1967 - The U.N. Security Council approved resolution 242. The resolution called for Israel to withdraw from territories it had captured in 1967 and called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.

1972 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon lifted a ban on American travel to Cuba. The ban had been put in place on February 8, 1963.

1974 - The U.N. General Assembly gave the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.

1975 - Juan Carlos I was proclaimed King of Spain upon the death of Gen. Francisco Franco.

1975 - "Dr. Zhivago" appeared on TV for the first time. NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights.

1977 - Regular passenger service on the Concorde began between New York and Europe.

1983 - The Bundestag approved NATO's plan to deploy new U.S. nuclear missiles in West Germany.

1984 - Fred Rogers of PBS' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" presented a sweater to the Smithsonian Institution.

1985 - Anne Henderson-Pollard was taken into custody a day after her husband Jonathon Jay Pollard was arrested for spying for Israel.

1985 - 38,648 immigrants became citizens of the United States. It was the largest swearing-in ceremony.

1986 - An Iranian surface-to-surface missile hit a residential area in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, wounding 20 civilians.

1986 - Attorney Generel Meese's office discovered a memo in Colonel Oliver North's office that included an amount of money to be sent to the Contras from the profits of weapons sales to Iran.

1986 - Mike Tyson became the youngest to wear the world heavyweight-boxing crown. He was only 20 years and 4 months old.

1988 - The South African government announced it had joined Cuba and Angola in endorsing a plan to remove Cuban troops from Angola.

1989 - Rene Moawad, the president of Lebanon, was assassinated less than three weeks after taking office by a bomb that exploded next to his motorcade in West Beirut.

1990 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush, his wife, Barbara, and other congressional leaders shared Thanksgiving dinner with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.

1990 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced she would resign.

1993 - Mexico's Senate overwhelmingly approved the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1993 - American Airlines flight attendants ended their strike that only lasted four days.

1994 - Inside the District of Columbia's police headquarters a gunman opened fire. Two FBI agents, a city detective and the gunman were killed in the gun battle.

1994 - In northwest Bosnia, Serb fighters set villages on fire in response to a retaliatory air strikes by NATO.

1998 - CBS's "60 Minutes" aired a tape of jack Kevorkian giving lethal drugs in an assisted suicide of a terminally ill patient. Kevorkian was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder.

2005 - Angela Merkel was elected as Germany's first female chancellor.

2005 - Microsoft's XBOX 360 went on sale.

[Raistlin]

1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was named after him. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east.

1582 - William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married.

1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake was born. Two of his best known works are "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience."

1919 - American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament.

1922 - Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public exhibition of skywriting. He spelled out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square.

1925 - The Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM.

1934 - The U.S. bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was killed by FBI agents near Barrington, IL.

1942 - 491 people died in a fire that destroyed the Coconut Grove in Boston.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to map out strategy concerning World War II.

1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers due to a strike of photoengravers.

1958 - The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community.

1963 - U.S. President Johnson announced that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of his assassinated predecessor. The name was changed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973 by a vote of residents.

1964 - The U.S. launched the space probe Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy on a course set for Mars.

1977 - Larry Bird was introduced as "College Basketball's Secret Weapon" with a cover story in Sports Illustrated. (NBA)

1978 - The Iranian government banned religious marches.

1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 flying to the South Pole crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 people aboard.

1983 - The space shuttle Columbia took off with the STS-9 Spacelab in its cargo bay.

1985 - The Irish Senate approved the Anglo-Irish accord concerning Northern Ireland.

1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed.

1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary.

1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain.

1992 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 137 tons of food and supplies were to be delivered to the isolated town of Srebrenica.

1992 - In King William's Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attacked a country club killing four people and injuring 20.

1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" closed after 48 performances.

1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, was clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate.

1994 - Norwegian voters rejected European Union membership.

1995 - U.S. President Clinton signed a $6 billion road bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit.

2010 - WikiLeaks released to the public more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. About 100,000 were marked "secret" or "confidential."

[Raistlin]

1530 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, former adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.

1864 - The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in Colorado when a militia led by Colonel John Chivington, killed at least 400 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who had surrendered and had been given permission to camp.

1890 - Navy defeated Army by a score of 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game. The game was played at West Point, NY.

1929 - The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd.

1939 - The USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Finland prior to a Soviet attack.

1945 - The monarchy was abolished in Yugoslavia and a republic proclaimed.

1947 - The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the division of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

1961 - The Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft was launched by the U.S. with Enos the chimp on board. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico.

1963 - A Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8F with 111 passengers and 7 crew members crashed in woods north of Montreal 4 minutes after takeoff from Dorval Airport. All aboard were killed. The crash was the worst in Canada's history.

1963 - U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

1967 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.

1971 - The Professional Golf Championship was held at Walt Disney World for the first time.
1974 - In Britain, a bill that outlawed the Irish Republican Army became effective.

1975 - Bill Gates adopted the name Microsoft for the company he and Paul Allen had formed to write the BASIC computer language for the Altair.

1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, CA, at the age 43.

1982 - The U.N. General Assembly voted that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

1986- Actor Cary Grant died at the age of 82.

1987 - A Korean jetliner disappeared off Burma, with 115 people aboard.

1987 - Cuban detainees released 26 hostages they'd been holding for more than a week at the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rights of criminal defendants are not violated when police unintentionally fail to preserve potentially vital evidence.

1989 - In Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

1991 - 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle wreck during a dust storm near Coalinga, CA, on Interstate 5.

1992 - Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

1994 - The U.S. House passed the revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1994 - Fighter jets attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport only hours after Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its civil war.

1996 - A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The sentence was the first international war crimes sentence since World War II.

1998 - Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected legalizing heroin and other narcotics.

2004 - The French government announced plans to build the Louvre II in northern France. The 236,808 square foot museum was the planned home for 500-600 works from the Louvre's reserves.

2004 - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

[Raistlin]

1016 - English King Edmund II died.

1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day.

1782 - The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France.

1804 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

1835 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain.

1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France.

1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope.

1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine.

1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition.

1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851.

1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland.

1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married.

1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking.

1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds.

1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape.

1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.

1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent.

1967 - Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower announced their engagement.

1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers.

1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.

1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi.

1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero."

1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

1989 - Alfred Herrhausen was killed in a bombing. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of killing Herrhausen the chairman of West Germany's largest bank.

1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.

1993 - Richard Allen Davis was arrested by authorities in California. Davis confessed to abducting and slaying 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.

1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.

1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution.

2000 - David Spade was assaulted with a stun gun by his longtime personal assistant, David Warren Malloy. Malloy attacked Spade during a burglary of Spade's home in Beverly Hills.

2001 - For the first time in its history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from its Animal Alley.

2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway was arrested for four of the Green River serial killings. He was pled innocent on December 18, 2001.

2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.

[Raistlin]

1835 - Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1909 - The Pennsylvania Trust Company, of Carlisle, PA, became the first bank in the in the U.S. to offer a Christmas Club account.

1913 - Ford Motor Co. began using a new movable assembly line that ushered in the era of mass production.

1913 - The first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh, PA.

1919 - Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.

1925 - The Locarno Pact finalized the treaties between World War I protagonists.

1934 - Sergei M. Kirov, a collaborator of Joseph Stalin, was assassinated at the Leningrad party headquarters.

1941 - In the U.S., the Civil Air Patrol was created. In April 1943 the Civil Air Patrol was placed under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces.

1942 - In the U.S., nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect.

1943 - In Teheran, leaders of the United States, the USSR and the United Kingdom met to reaffirm the goal set on October 30, 1943. The previous meeting called for an early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security.

1952 - In Denmark, it was announced that the first successful sex-change operation had been performed.

1955 - Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the U.S.

1959 - 12 countries, including the U.S. and USSR, signed a treaty that set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, which would be free from military activity.

1965 - An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began.

1969 - The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

1984 - A remote-controlled Boeing 720 jetliner was deliberately crashed into California's Mojave Desert to test an anti-flame fuel additive. The test proved to be disappointing.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagansaid he would welcome an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair if it were recommended by the Justice Department.

1987 - NASA announced four companies had been given contracts to help build a space station. The companies were Boeing Aerospace, G. E.'s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas Aeronautics, and Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.

1989 - Dissidents in the Philippine military launched an unsuccessful coup against Corazon Aquino's government.

1989 - East Germany's Parliament abolished the Communist Party's constitutional guarantee of supremacy.

1990 - Iraq accepted a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis.

1990 - British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met under the English Channel.

1991 - Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin survived an impeachment attempt by hard-liners at the opening of the Russian Congress.

1994 - The U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval to the 124-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1998 - Exxon announced that it was buying Mobil for $73.7 billion creating the largest company in the world to date.

[Raistlin]

1804 - Napoleon was crowned emperor of France at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

1816 - The first savings bank in the U.S., the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.

1823 - U.S. President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

1901 - Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades.

1917 - During World War I, hostilities were suspended on the eastern front.

1927 - The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model A automobile. It was the successor to the Model T.

1939 - New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at 12:01 a.m.

1942 - A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated by Dr. Enrico Fermi and his staff at the University of Chicago.

1943 - "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway.

1954 - The U.S. Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy for what it called "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The censure was related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society.

1961 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared in a nationally broadcast speech that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that he was going to lead Cuba to communism.

1969 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people flew from Seattle, WA, to New York City, NY. Most of the passengers were reporters and photographers.

1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency began operating under its first director, William Ruckelshaus.

1980 - The Central Committee of Poland’s Communist Party announced major Politburo changes. The changes were apparently aimed at coping with labor unrest.

1982 - Doctors at the University of Utah implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Barney Clark. He lived 112 days with the device. The operation was the first of its kind.

1985 - A Philippine civilian court acquitted armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver of charges related to the 1983 shooting death of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino. 25 other defendants were also acquitted.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.

1989 - V.P. Singh was sworn in as prime minister of India.

1990 - Chancellor Hekmut Kohl's coalition won the first free all-German elections since 1932.

1990 - The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. Nothing happened.

1991 - American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released by his kidnappers. He had been held captive in Lebanon for over five years.

1992 - Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.

1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

1993 - The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

1994 - The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. Instead a deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.

1995 - NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was concluded that they had not violated election laws.

1998 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.

1999 - The British government transferred political power over the province of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

2001 - Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2010 - NASA announced the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form.

[Raistlin]

1804 - Napoleon was crowned emperor of France at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

1816 - The first savings bank in the U.S., the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.

1823 - U.S. President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

1901 - Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades.

1917 - During World War I, hostilities were suspended on the eastern front.

1927 - The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model A automobile. It was the successor to the Model T.

1939 - New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at 12:01 a.m.

1942 - A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated by Dr. Enrico Fermi and his staff at the University of Chicago.

1943 - "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway.

1954 - The U.S. Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy for what it called "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The censure was related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society.

1961 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared in a nationally broadcast speech that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that he was going to lead Cuba to communism.

1969 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people flew from Seattle, WA, to New York City, NY. Most of the passengers were reporters and photographers.

1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency began operating under its first director, William Ruckelshaus.

1980 - The Central Committee of Poland’s Communist Party announced major Politburo changes. The changes were apparently aimed at coping with labor unrest.

1982 - Doctors at the University of Utah implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Barney Clark. He lived 112 days with the device. The operation was the first of its kind.

1985 - A Philippine civilian court acquitted armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver of charges related to the 1983 shooting death of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino. 25 other defendants were also acquitted.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.

1989 - V.P. Singh was sworn in as prime minister of India.

1990 - Chancellor Hekmut Kohl's coalition won the first free all-German elections since 1932.

1990 - The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. Nothing happened.

1991 - American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released by his kidnappers. He had been held captive in Lebanon for over five years.

1992 - Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.

1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

1993 - The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

1994 - The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. Instead a deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.

1995 - NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was concluded that they had not violated election laws.

1998 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.

1999 - The British government transferred political power over the province of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

2001 - Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2010 - NASA announced the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form.

[Raistlin]

1783 - Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.

1791 - Britain's Observer newspaper was first published.

1812 - Peter Gaillard patented the power mower.

1867 - The National Grange of Husbandry was founded.

1875 - William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled from the U.S.

1918 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson set sail for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference. Wilson became the first chief executive to travel to Europe while in office.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration. The program had been created in order to provide jobs during the Great Depression.

1942 - U.S. bombers attacked the Italian mainland for the first time during World War II.

1943 - Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis announced that any club was free to employ black players.

1945 - The U.S. Senate approved American participation in the United Nations.

1965 - The U.S. launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Comdr. James A. Lovell on board.

1973 - Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter.

1977 - Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Empire, crowned himself emperor in a ceremony believed to have cost more than $100 million. He was deposed 2 years later.

1978 - Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco's first woman mayor when she was named to replace George Moscone, who had been murdered.

1979 - For the second time, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to urge Iran to free American hostages that had been taken on November 4.

1980 - The bodies of four American nuns slain in El Salvador two days earlier were unearthed. Five national guardsmen were later convicted of the murders.

1983 - U.S. jet fighters struck Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon in retaliation for attacks directed at American reconnaissance planes. Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr. was shot down and captured by Syria.

1984 - A five-day hijack drama began as four men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran. Two American passengers were killed by the hijackers.

1986 - Both U.S. houses of Congress moved to establish special committees to conduct their own investigations of the Iran-Contra affair.

1987 - Cuban inmates at a federal prison in Atlanta freed their 89 hostages, peacefully ending an 11-day uprising.

1988 - The government of Argentina announced that hundreds of heavily armed soldiers had ended a four-day military revolt.

1990 - Iraq promised to release 3,300 Soviet citizens it was holding.

1991 - Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was released after nearly seven years in captivity in Lebanon.

1991 - Pan American World Airways ceased operations.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia.

1993 - The Angolan government and its UNITA guerrilla foes formally adopted terms for a truce. The conflict was killing an estimated 1,000 people per day.

1994 - Bosnian Serbs released 53 out of about 400 UN peacekeepers they were holding as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.

1997 - The play revival "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened.

1997 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors for one year for choking and threatening to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.

2000 - O.J. Simpson was involved in an incident with another motorist in Miami, FL. Simpson was accused of scratching the other motorists face while pulling off the man's glasses.

2001 - O.J. Simpson's home in Florida was raided by the FBI in an ongoing two year international investigation into drug trafficking, satellite service pilfering and money laundering. Some satellite equipment was taken from Simpson's home and no drugs were found.

[Raistlin]

1492 - Christopher Columbus discovered Hispaniola (now Haiti).

1560 - Charles IX succeeded as King of France on the death of Francis II.

1766 - James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London.

1776 - In Williamsburg, VA, at the College of William and Mary the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized.

1782 - The first native U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, NY.

1792 - The trial of France's King Louis XVI began.

1797 - Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Paris to command forces for the invasion of England.

1812 - Napoleon Bonaparte left his army as they were retreating from Russia.

1839 - General George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, OH.

1848 - U.S. President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming the fact that gold had been discovered in California.

1876 - The Stillson wrench was patented by D.C. Stillson. The device was the first practical pipe wrench.

1901 - Movie producer Walt Disney was born in Chicago. He created his first Mickey Mouse cartoon at the age of 27.
1904 - The Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese at Port Arthur, during the Russo-Japanese War.

1908 - At the University of Pittsburgh, numerals were first used on football uniforms worn by college football players.

1913 - Britain outlawed the sending of arms to Ireland.

1932 - German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa making it possible for him to travel to the U.S.

1933 - Prohibition came to an end when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1934 - Fighting broke out between Italian and Ethiopian troops on the Somalian border.

1934 - The Soviet Union executed 66 people charged with plotting against Joseph Stalin's government.

1935 - In Montebello, CA, the first commercial hydrophonics operation was established.

1936 - The Soviet Union adopted a new Constitution under a Supreme Council.

1944 - During World War II, Allied troops took Ravenna, Italy.

1945 - The so-called "Lost Squadron" disappeared. The five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers carrying 14 Navy flyers began a training mission at the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station. They were never heard from again.

1951 - The first push button-controlled garage opened in Washington, DC.

1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO.

1956 - British and French forces began a withdrawal from Egypt during the Suez War.

1958 - Britain's first motorway, the Preston by-pass, was opened by Prime Minister Macmillan.

1961 - United Nations forces launched an attack in Katanga, the Congo, near Elizabethville.

1962 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to cooperate in the peaceful uses of outer space.

1971 - The Soviet Union, at United Nations Security Council, vetoed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in hostilities between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

1976 - Jacques Chirac re-founded the Gaullist party as the RPR (Rassemblement pour la République).

1977 - Egypt broke diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen due to peaceful relations with Israel.

1978 - The American space probe Pioneer Venus I, orbiting Venus, began beaming back its first information and picture of the planet.

1979 - Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church due to her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

1983 - In west Beirut, Lebanon, more than a dozen people were killed when a car bomb shattered a nine-story apartment building.

1983 - The video arcade game "NFL Football" was unveiled in Chicago. It was the first video arcade game to be licensed by the National Football League.

1984 - Iran's official news agency quoted the hijackers of a Kuwaiti jetliner parked at Tehran airport as saying they would blow up the plane unless Kuwait released 14 imprisoned extremists.

1985 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 for the first time.

1986 - The Soviet Union said it would continue to abide by the SALT II treaty limits on nuclear weapons. This was despite the decision by the U.S. to exceed them.

1988 - Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch were indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on fraud and conspiracy charges.

1989 - Israeli soldiers killed five heavily armed Arab guerrillas who crossed the border from Egypt. The guerrillas were allegedly going to launch a terrorist attack commemorating the anniversary of the Palestinian uprising.

1989 - East Germany's former leaders were placed under house arrest.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin kept the power to appoint Cabinet ministers, defeating a constitutional amendment that would have put his team of reformers under the control of Russia's Congress.

1998 - James P. Hoffa became the head of the Teamsters union, 23 years after his father was the head. His father disappeared and was presumed dead.

2001 - In Germany, Afghan leaders signed a pact to create a temporary administration for post-Taliban Afghanistan. Two women were included in the cabinet structure. Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet were planned to take over power in Afghanistan on December 22.

[Raistlin]

1774 - Austria became the first nation to introduce a state education system.

1790 - The U.S. Congress moved from New York to Philadelphia.

1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.

1876 - The city of Anaheim was incorporated for a second time.

1877 - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone, with a recording of himself reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb.

1883 - "Ladies' Home Journal" was published for the first time.

1884 - The construction of the Washington Monument was completed by Army engineers. The project took 34 years.

1889 - Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans. He was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

1907 - In Monongah, WV, 361 people were killed in America's worst mine disaster.

1917 - More than 1,600 people died when two munitions ships collided in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1917 - Finland proclaimed independence from Russia.

1921 - The Catholic Irish Free State was created as a self-governing dominion of Britain when an Anglo-Irish treaty was signed.

1923 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first president to give a presidential address that was broadcast on radio.

1926 - In Italy, Benito Mussolini introduced a tax on bachelors.

1947 - Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by U.S. President Truman.

1957 - AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Teamsters were readmitted in 1987.

1957 - America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed when the satellite blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, FL.

1960 - Gene Autry and Bob Reynolds were granted the Los Angeles Angels baseball franchise by the American League.

1973 - Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the vice-president of the United States after vice-president Spiro Agnew resigned.

1982 - 11 soldiers and 6 civilians were killed when a bomb exploded in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland. The Irish National Liberation Army was responsible for planting the bomb.

1983 - In Jerusalem, a bomb planted on a bus exploded killing six Israelis and wounding 44.

1985 - Congressional negotiators reached an agreement on a deficit-cutting proposal that later became the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law.

1989 - The worst mass shooting in Canadian history occurred when a man gunned down 14 women at the University of Montreal's school of engineering. The man then killed himself.

1989 - Egon Krenz resigned as leader of East Germany.

1990 - Iraq announced that it would release all its 2,000 foreign hostages.

1990 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle was enshrined in the Little League Museum's Hall of Excellence.

1992 - Germany's primary political parties agreed to tighten postwar asylum laws.

1992 - In India, thousands of Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque. The following two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting resulted in at least 2,000 people being killed.

1993 - Former priest James R. Porter was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison. Porter had admitted molesting 28 children in the 1960s.

1994 - Orange County, CA, filed for bankruptcy protection due to investment losses of about $2 billion. The county is one of the richest in the U.S. and became to largest municipality to file for bankruptcy.

1997 - A Russian Antonov 124 military transport crashed into a residential area in Irkutsk, Russia, shortly after takeoff. 70 people were killed.

1998 - In Venezuela, former Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez was elected president. He had staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier.

1998 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour connected the first two building blocks of the international space station in the shuttle cargo bay.

2002 - Winona Ryder was sentenced to 36 months of probation and 480 hours of community service stemming from her conviction for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue. She was also ordered to pay $10,000 in fines and restitution.

2002 - Officials released the detailed plans for a $4.7 million memorial commemorating Princess Diana. The large oval fountain was planned to be constructed in London's Hyde Park.

[Raistlin]

1431 - In Paris, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France.

1732 - The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) was opened.

1787 - Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. constitution becoming the first of the United States.

1796 - John Adams was elected to be the second president of the United States.

1836 - Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.

1889 - The first of 554 performances of "The Gondoliers" took place.

1907 - At London's National Sporting Club, Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate from inside a boxing ring.

1925 - Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 150-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 25 and 2/5 seconds. He went on to play "Tarzan" in several movies.

1926 - The gas operated refrigerator was patented by The Electrolux Servel Corporation.

1941 - Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The attack resulted in the U.S. entering into World War II.

1946 - A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta killed 119 people. It was America's worst hotel fire disaster. The hotel founder, W. Frank Winecoff, was also killed in the fire.

1971 - Libya announced the nationalization of British Petroleum's assets.

1972 - Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral. It was the last U.S. moon mission.

1972 - Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant. The man was then shot and killed by her bodyguards.

1974 - President Makarios returned to Cyprus after five months in exile.

1980 - General Antonio Ramlho Eanes was reelected president of Portugal. His right-wing opposition was thrown into disarray by the death of Premier Francisco Sa Carneiro in a plane crash.

1982 - Charlie Brooks Junior, a convicted murderer, became the first prisoner in the U.S. to be executed by injection, at a prison in Huntsville, TX.

1983 - Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff. The collision resulted in the death of all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 on the Iberia jet.

1987 - Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev set foot on American soil for the first time. He had come to the U.S. for a Washington summit with U.S. President Reagan.

1987 - 43 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on a fellow passenger and the two pilots aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner.

1988 - An estimated 25,000 people were killed when a major earthquake hit northern Armenia in the Soviet Union. The quake measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

1988 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced the reduction of the number of Soviet military troops by half a million.

1989 - East Germany's Communist Party agreed to cooperate with the plan for free elections and a revised constitution.

1992 - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Mississippi abortion law which, required women to get counseling and then wait 24 hours before terminating their pregnancies.

1993 - Six people were killed and 17 were injured when a gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train.

1993 - Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary revealed that the U.S. government had conducted more than 200 nuclear weapons tests in secret at its Nevada test site.

1993 - Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders suggested that the U.S. government study the impact of drug legalization.

1995 - A probe sent from the Galileo spacecraft entered into Jupiter's atmosphere. The probe sent back data to the mothership before it was presumably destroyed.

1996 - The space shuttle Columbia returned from the longest-ever shuttle flight of 17 days, 15 hours and 54 minutes.

1998 - The U.N. evacuated 14 peacekeepers that were trapped by fighting between army and rebel forces in central Angola.

1998 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of President Clinton over 1996 campaign financing.

1999 - A U.S. federal grand jury indicted a former convict in the 1995 disappearance of atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

2002 - In Amsterdam, Netherlands, two Van Gogh paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum. The two works were "View of the Sea st Scheveningen" and "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen." On July 26, 2004, two men were convicted for the crime and were sentenced to at least four years in prison each.

2002 - In Mymensingh, Bangladesh, four movies theaters were bombed within 30 minutes of each other. At least 15 people were killed and over 200 were injured.

2003 - A 12-inch by 26-inch painting of a river landscape and sailing vessel by Martin Johnson Heade was sold at auction for $1 million. The painting was found in the attic of a suburban Boston home where it had been stored for more than 60 years

[Raistlin]

1765 - Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, MA. Whitney invented the cotton gin and developed the concept of mass-production of interchangeable parts.

1776 - George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived.

1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South.

1863 - Tom King of England defeated American John Heenan and became the first world heavyweight champion.

1886 - At a convention of union leaders in Columbus, OH, the American Federation of Labor was founded.

1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan.

1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure.

1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time.

1953 - Los Angeles became the third largest city in the United States.

1962 - Workers of the International Typographical Union began striking and closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days and ended April 1, 1963.

1980 - Zimbabwe’s manpower minister, Edgar Tekere, was found guilty in the killing of a white farmer. He was freed under a law that protected ministers acting to suppress terrorism.

1982 - Norman D. Mayer demanding an end to nuclear weapons held the Washington Monument hostage. He threatened to blow it up with explosives he claimed were inside a van. 10 hours later he was shot to death by police.

1984 - In Roanoke, Virginia, a jury found Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt innocent of libeling Reverend Jerry Falwell with a parody advertisement. However Falwell was awarded $200,000 for emotional distress.

1987 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty agreeing to destroy their nations' arsenals of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1987 - The "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began.

1989 - Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia offered to surrender their control over the government and accept a minority role in a coalition Cabinet.

1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government to be dead. They forged a new alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. The act was denounced by Russian President Gorbachev as unconstitutional.

1992 - Americans got to see live television coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. (Due to the time difference, it was December 9 in Somalia.)

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1994 - Bosnian Serbs released dozens of hostage peacekeepers, but continued to detain about 300 others.

1994 - In Los Angeles, 12 alternate jurors were chosen for the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

1997 - The second largest bank was created with the announcement that Union Bank Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation would merge. The combined assets were more than $590 billion.

1997 - Jenny Shipley was sworn in as the first female prime minister of New Zealand.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation.

1998 - The FBI opened its files on Frank Sinatra to the public. The file contained over 1,300 pages.

1998 - Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi's first of eight babies was born. The other seven were delivered 12 days later.

1998 - AT&T Corp. announced that it was buying IBM's data networking business for $5 billion cash.

1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played. Finland beat Sweden 6-0.

1999 - In Memphis, TN, a jury found that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin.

1999 - Russia and Belarus agreed in principle to form an economic and political confederation.

2000 - Mario Lemieux announced to the Pittsburgh Penguins that he planned to return to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player at age 35. He would be the first modern owner-player in U.S. pro sports.

[Raistlin]

1594 - Gustavus II of Sweden was born. 1608 - English poet John Milton was born in London. 1625 - The Treaty of the Hague was signed by England and the Netherlands. The agreement was to subsidize Christian IV of Denmark in his campaign in Germany. 1783 - The first executions at Newgate Prison took place. 1793 - "The American Minerva" was published for the first time. It was the first daily newspaper in New York City and was founded by Noah Webster. 1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President. 1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris was born. 1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England. 1879 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Ore Milling Company. 1884 - Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the ball-bearing roller skate. 1892 - In London, "Widowers' Houses," George Bernard Shaw's first play, opened at the Royalty Theater. 1907 - Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office. 1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs. 1914 - The Edison Phonograph Works was destroyed by fire. 1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby. 1940 - During World War II, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa. 1940 - The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City. 1941 - China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. 1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane" was first performed by the Kirov Ballet. 1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight boxing title. 1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society. 1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer, known as "Univac 1107." 1960 - The first episode of "Coronation Street" was screened on ITV. 1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia," by David Lean had its world premiere in London. 1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. 1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default. 1978 - The first game of the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) was played between the Chicago Hustle and the Milwaukee Does. 1983 - NATO foreign ministers called on the Soviet Union to join in a "comprehensive political dialogue" to ease tensions in the world. 1984 - Iranian security men seized control of the plane ending a five-day hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner, which was parked at the Tehran airport. 1985 - In Argentina, five former military junta members received sentences in prison for their roles in the "dirty war" in which nearly 9,000 people had "disappeared." 1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation. 1987 - In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabliya refugee camp. 1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history. 1990 - Slobodan Milosovic was elected president in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years. 1990 - The first American hostages to be released by Iraq began arriving in theU.S. 1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999. 1992 - Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. 1992 - Clair George, former CIA spy chief, was convicted of lying to the U.S.Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. President George H.W. Bush later pardoned George. 1992 - U.S. troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid, in operation 'Restore Hope'. 1993 - The U.S. Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos that were marked for elimination under an arms control treaty. 1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. 1993 - At Princeton University in New Jersey, scientists produced a controlled fusion reaction equivalent to 3 million watts. 1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace talks in Northern Ireland. 1994 - U.S. President Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after learning that she had told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality. 1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990. 1999 - The U.S. announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat that had been caught gathering information with an eavesdropping device at the U.S. State Department. 2002 - United Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing $4 billion in the previos two years. It was the sixth largest bankruptcy filing. 2003 - In Australia, thieves broke into a home and stole two 300-year-old etchings by Rembrandt. The 4-by-4-inch etchings, a self-portait and a depiction of the artist's mother, were valued around $518,000.

[Raistlin]

1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict. The papacy demanded that he recant or face excommunication.

Luther refused and was formally expelled from the church in January 1521.

1768 - The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London by George III. Joshua Reynolds was its first president.

1817 - Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the 20th American state.

1830 - Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, MA. Only seven of her works were published while she was alive.

1845 - British civil engineer Robert Thompson patented the first pneumatic tires.

1851 - American librarian Melvil Dewey was born. He created the "Dewey Decimal Classification" system.

1869 - Women were granted the right to vote in the Wyoming Territory.

1898 - A treaty was signed in Paris that officially ended the Spanish-American War. Also, Cuba became independent of Spain.

1901 - The first Nobel prizes were awarded.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

1931 - Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she was the first American woman to do so.

1939 - The National Football League's attendance exeeded 1 million in a season for the first time.

1941 - Japan invaded the Philippines.

1941 - The Royal Naval battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Battle of Malaya.

1948 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

1950 - Dr. Ralph J. Bunche was presented the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first African-American to receive the award. Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in mediation between Israel and neighboring Arab states.

1953 - Hugh Hefner published the first "Playboy" magazine with an investment of $7,600.

1958 - The first domestic passenger jet flight took place in the U.S. when 111 passengers flew from New York to Miami on a National Airlines Boeing 707.

1962 - Frank Gifford (New York Giants) was on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."

1964 - In Oslo, Norway, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest person to receive the award.

1980 - South Carolina Representative John W. Jenretter resigned to avoid being expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives following his conviction on charges to the FBI's Abscam investigation.

1982 - The Law of the Sea Convention was signed by 118 countries in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 23 nations and the U.S. were excluded.

1983 - Raul Alfonsin was inaugurated as Argentina's first civilian president after nearly eight years of military rule.

1984 - South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

1990 - The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Norplant, a long-acting contraceptive implant.

1991 - The play Revival "The Crucible" opened.

1992 - Oregon Senator Bob Packwood apologized for what he called "unwelcome and offensive" actions toward women. However, he refused to resign.

1993 - The crew of the space shuttle Endeavor deployed the repaired Hubble Space Telescope into Earth's orbit.

1994 - Advertising executive Thomas Mosser of North Caldwell, NJ, was killed by a mail bomb that was blamed on the Unabomber.

1994 - Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize. They pledged to pursue their mission of healing the Middle East.

1995 - The first U.S. Marines arrived in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to join NATO soldiers sent to enforce peace in the former Yugoslavia.

1996 - South Africa's President Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution, completing the country's transition from white-minority rule to a non-racial democracy.

1998 - Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station 250 miles above the Earth's surface.

1998 - The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses that rejected Israel's existence.

1999 - After three years under suspicion of being a spy for China, computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested. He was charged with removing secrets from the Los Alamos weapons lab. Lee later pled guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape and was freed. The other 58 counts were dropped.

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld new restrictions on political advertising in the weeks before an election. The court did strike down two provisions of the new law that involved a ban on political contibutions from those too young to vote and a limitation on some party spending. (McConnell v. FEC, 02-1674)

2003 - The U.S. barred firms based in certain countries, opponents of the Iraq war, from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. The ban did not prevent companies from winning subcontracts.

2007 - Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president.

[Raistlin]

1282 - Llywelyn (Llewelyn ap Gruffydd) was killed in Cilmeri, central Wales.

1719 - The first recorded sighting of the Aurora Borealis was in New England.

1769 - Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.

1792 - France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention, which had replaced the National Assembly, to face charges of treason. He was convicted and condemned and was sent to the guillotine the following January.

1816 - Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th American state.

1844 - Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic.

1872 - Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became America's first black governor when he took office as acting governor of Louisiana.

1882 - Boston's Bijou Theater had its first performance. It was the first American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity.

1894 - The world's first motor show opened in Paris with nine exhibitors.

1928 - In Buenos Aires, police thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.

1930 - The Bank of the United States in New York failed.

1936 - Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became the Duke of Windsor.

1937 - The Fascist Council in Rome, withdrew Italy from the League of Nations.

1941 - Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries.

1943 - The City Center of music and Drama was dedicated in New York by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war.

1951 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) announced his retirement from major league baseball. DiMaggio only played for the Yankees during his 13-year career.

1961 - The first direct American military support for South Vietnam occurred when a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon.

1967 - The prototype of the Concorde was shown for the first time in Toulouse, France.

1973 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and Czech Prime Minister Lubomir Strougal formally nullified the 1938 Munich pact when they signed a treaty sanctioning Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law legislation creating $1.6 billion environmental "superfund" that would be used to pay for cleaning up chemical spills and toxic waste dumps.

1981 - Muhammad Ali fought his last fight. He lost his 61st fight to Trevor Berbick.

1985 - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate by giving final congressional approval to the Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law.

1985 - General Electric Company agreed to buy RCA Corporation for $6.3 billion. Also included in the deal was NBC Radio and Television.

1986 - The government of South Africa expanded its media restrictions by imposing prior censorship and banning coverage of a wide range of peaceful anti-apartheid protests.

1987 - Charlie Chaplin's trademark cane and bowler hat were sold at Christie's for £82,500.

1988 - 62 people were killed in a Mexico City marketplace when tons of illegal fireworks exploded.

1990 - Ivana Trump was divorced from Donald Trump after 12 years of marriage.

1991 - Salman Rushdie, under an Islamic death sentence for blasphemy, made his first public appearance since 1989 in New York, at a dinner marking the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment (which guarantees freedom of speech in the U.S.).

1994 - Thousands of Russian troops, armored columns and jets entered Chechnya. The move by Moscow was an effort to restore control the breakaway republic.

1994 - The world's largest free trade zone was created when leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere nations signed a free-trade declaration known as "The Miami Process."

1996 - In Crystal City, VA, "The Art of the Toy" opened. The exhibit was at the Patent and Trademark Office Museum.

1997 - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams became the first political ally of the IRA to meet a British leader in 76 years. He conferred with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

1997 - More than 270 Tutsi refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed by Juto guerillas in Mudende, Rwanda.

1997 - More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth's "greenhouse gases."

1998 - Scientists announced that they had deciphered the entire genetic blueprint of a tiny worm.

1998 - The Mars Climate Orbiter blasted off on a nine-month journey to the Red Planet. However, the probe disappeared in September of 1999, apparently destroyed because scientists had failed to convert English measures to metric values.

1998 - Majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against U.S. President Clinton.

2000 - Mario Lemeiux, owner of Pittsburgh Penquins, announced that he would end his three-plus year retirement and become an active National Hockey League (NHL) player again. When Lemieux returned officially he became the first owner/player in NHL history.

2001 - U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft announced the first federal indictment directly related to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Zacarias Moussaoui was charged with six conspiracy charges. Moussaoui was in custody at the time of the attacks.

2001 - Ted Turner purchased 12,000 acres in Nebraska for Bison ranches.

2001 - It was announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would withdraw the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.

2001 - Federal agents seized computers in 27 U.S. cities as part of "Operation Buccaneer." The raids were used to gain evidence against an international software piracy ring.

[Raistlin]

1787 - Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1792 - In Vienna, 22-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven received one of his first lessons in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn.

1800 - Washington, DC, was established as the capital of the United States.

1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker to be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.

1896 - Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

1897 - The comic strip"The Katzenjammer Kids" (Hans and Fritz), by Rudolph Dirks, appeared in the New York Journal for the first time.

1899 - George Grant patented the wooden golf tee.

1900 - Charles M. Schwab formed the United States Steel Corporation.

1901 - The first radio signal to cross the Atlantic was picked up near St. John's Newfoundland, by inventor Guglielmo Marconi.

1912 - The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day.

1915 - The first all-metal aircraft, the German Junkers J1, made its first flight.

1917 - Father Edward Flanagan opened Boys Town in Nebraska. The farm village was for wayward boys. In 1979 it was opened to girls.

1925 - The "Motel Inn," the first motel in the world, opened in San Luis Obispo, CA.

1937 - Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat "Panay" on China's Yangtze River. Japan apologized for the attack, and paid $2.2 million in reparations.

1946 - A United Nations committee voted to accept a six-block tract of Manhattan real estate to be the site of the UN's headquarters. The land was offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

1947 - The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor.

1951 - The U.S. Navy Department announced that the world's first nuclear powered submarine would become the sixth ship to bear the name Nautilus.

1955 - It was announced that the Ford Foundation gave $500,000,000 to private hospitals, colleges and medical schools.

1955 - British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the first hovercraft.

1963 - Kenya gained its independence from Britain.

1975 - Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to a charge of trying to kill U.S. President Ford in San Francisco the previous September.

1982 - 20,000 women encircled Greenham Common air base in Britain in protest against proposed cite of U.S. Cruise missiles there.

1983 - Car bombs were set off in front of the French and U.S. embassies in Kuwait City. Shiite extremists were responsible for the five deaths and 86 wounded. Total of five bombs went off in different locations.

1984 - In a telephone conversation with U.S. President Reagan, William J. Schroeder complained of a delay in his Social Security benefits. Schroeder received a check the following day.

1985 - 248 American soldiers and eight crewmembers were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed in Gander, Newfoundland after takeoff.

1989 - Britain forcibly removed 51 Vietnamese from Hong Kong and returned them to their homeland.

1989 - Leona Helmsley was fined $7 million and sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion.

1994 - The Brazilian Supreme Court acquitted former President Fernando Collor de Mello of corruption charges that had forced him to resign in 1992.

1994 - IBM stopped shipments of personal computers with Intel's flawed Pentium chip.

1995 - The U.S. Senate stopped a constitutional amendment giving Congress authority to outlaw flag burning and other forms of desecration against the American flag.

1995 - Two French airmen shot down over Bosnia arrived home after almost four months of being held captive by the Bosnian Serbs.

1997 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

1997 - The U.S. Justice Department ordered Microsoft to sell its Internet browser separately from its Windows operating system to prevent it from building a monopoly of Web access programs.

1997 - Denver Pyle received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - The House Judiciary Committee rejected censure, and approved the final article of impeachment against U.S. President Clinton. The case was submitted to the full House for a verdict.

2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court found that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election was unconstitutional. U.S. Vice President Al Gore conceded the election to Texas Gov. George W. Bush the next day.

2000 - Timothy McVeigh, over the objections of his lawyers, abandoned his final round of appeals and asked that his execution be set within 120 days. McVeigh was convicted of the April 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Fedal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, that killed 168 and injured 500.

2000 - The Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a record breaking 10-year, $252 million contract. The contract amount broke all major league baseball records and all professional sports records.

2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would implement minimum federal election standards and provide funding to help states modernize their voting systems.

2001 - Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison for being the leader of a Cuban spy ring. His conviction was based on his role in the infiltration of U.S. military bases and in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans whose planes were shot down five years before.

2001 - In Beverly Hills, CA, actress Winona Ryder was arrested at Saks Fifth Avenue for shoplifting and possessing pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. The numerous items of clothing and hair accessories were valued at $4,760.

2002 - North Korea announced that it would reactivate a nuclear power plant that U.S. officials believed was being used to develop weapons.

[Raistlin]

1577 - Five ships under the command of Sir Francis Drake left Plymouth, England, to embark on Drake's circumnavigation of the globe. The journey took almost three years.

1636 - The United States National Guard was created when militia regiments were organized by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1642 - New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman.

1769 - Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, received its charter.

1809 - The first abdominal surgical procedure was performed in Danville, KY, on Jane Todd Crawford. The operation was performed without an anesthetic.

1816 - John Adamson received a patent for a dry dock.

1862 - In America, an estimated 11,000 Northern soldiers were killed or wounded when Union forces were defeated by Confederates under General Robert E. Lee, at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

1883 - The border between Ontario and Manitoba was established.

1884 - Percy Everitt received a patent for the first coin-operated weighing machine.

1913 - It was announced by authorities in Florence, Italy, that the "Mona Lisa" had been recovered. The work was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911.

1913 - The Federal Reserve System was established.

1918 - U.S. President Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit a European country while holding office.

1921 - Britain, France, Japan and the United States signed the Pacific Treaty.

1937 - Japanese forces took the Chinese city of Nanking (Nanjing). An estimated 200,000 Chinese were killed over the next six weeks. The event became known as the "Rape of Nanking."

1944 - During World War II, the U.S. cruiser Nashville was badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze suicide attack. 138 people were killed in the attack.

1961 - Anna Mary Robertson Moses, "Grandma Moses," passed away at the age of 101.

1964 - In El Paso, TX, President Johnson and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion that diverted the Rio Grande River, reshaping the U.S.-Mexican border. This ended a century-old border dispute.

1966 - The rights to the first four Super Bowls were sold to CBS and NBC for total of $9.5 million.

1978 - The Philadelphia Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony U.S. dollar. The coin began circulation the following July.

1980 - Three days after a disputed general election, Uganda’s President Milton Obote was returned to office.

1981 - Authorities in Poland imposed martial law in an attempt to crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. Martial law ended formally in 1983.

1982 - The Sentry Armored Car Company in New York discovered that $11 million had been stolen from its headquarters overnight. It was the biggest cash theft in U.S. history.

1987 - U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz told reporters in Copenhagen, Denmark, that the Reagan administration would begin making funding requests for the proposed Star Wars defense system.

1988 - PLO chairman Yasser Arafat addressed the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva, where it had reconvened after the United States had refused to grant Arafat a visa to visit New York.

1988 - A bankruptcy judge in Columbia, SC, ordered the assets of the troubled PTL television ministry sold to a Toronto real estate developer for $65 million.

1989 - South African President F.W. de Klerk met for the first time with imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, at de Klerk's office in Cape Town.

1991 - Five Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union agreed to join the new Commonwealth of Independent States.

1991 - North Korea and South Korea signed a historic non-aggression agreement.

1993 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people must receive a hearing before property linked to illegal drug sales can be seized.

1993 - The European Community ratified a treaty creating the European Economic Area (EEA), to go into effect January 1, 1994.

1994 - An American Eagle commuter plane carrying 20 people crashed short of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15 people.

1995 - China's most influential democracy activist, Wei Jingsheng, who already had spent 16 years in prison, was sentenced to 14 more years.

1997 - The Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA, was opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

1998 - Puerto Rican voters rejected U.S. statehood in a non-binding referendum.

1998 - Gary Anderson (Minnesota Vikings) kicked six field goals against Baltimore. In the game Anderson set an National Football League (NFL) record for 34 straight field goals without a miss.

2000 - U.S. Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 Presidential election to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The Florida electoral votes were won by only 537 votes, which decided the election. The election had been contested up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which said that the Florida recount (supported by the Florida Supreme Court) was unconstitutional.

2000 - Seven convicts, the "Texas 7," escaped from Connally Unit in Kenedy, TX, southeast of San Antonio, by overpowering civilian workers and prison employees. They fled with stolen clothing, pickup truck and 16 guns and ammunition.

2001 - The U.S. government released a video tape that showed Osama bin Laden and others discussing their knowledge of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush served formal notice to Russia that the United States was withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

2001 - Israel severed all contact with Yasser Arafat. Israel also launched air strikes and sent troops into Palestine in response to a bus ambush that killed 10 Israelis.

2001 - Gunmen stormed the Indian Parliament and killed seven people and injured 18. Security forces killed the attackers during a 90-minute gunbattle.

2001 - NBC-TV announced that it would begin running hard liquor commercials. NBC issued a 19-point policy that outlined the conditions for accepting liquor ads.

2001 - Michael Frank Goodwin was arrested and booked on two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy and three special circumstances (lying in wait, murder for financial gain and multiple murder) in connection to the death of Mickey Thompson. Thompson and his wife Trudy were shot to death in their driveway on March 16, 1988. Thompson, known as the "Speed King," set nearly 500 auto speed endurance records including being the first person to travel more than 400 mph on land.

[Raistlin]

1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, Provence, France. 1798 - David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patented the nut and bolt machine. 1799 - The first president of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67. 1819 - Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state. 1896 - Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led the first air raid on Japan during World War II, was born. 1900 - Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory. 1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt. Three days later, after repairs were made, the modern aviation age was born when the plane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and flew 102 feet. 1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott. 1918 - For the first time in Britain women (over 30) voted in a General Election. 1939 - The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations. 1945 - Josef Kramer, known as "the beast of Belsen," and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps. 1946 - The U.N. General Assembly voted to establish the United Nation's headquarters in New York City. 1959 - Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus' first president. 1962 - The U.S. space probe Mariner II approached Venus. It transmitted information about the planet's atmosphere and surface temperature. 1975 - Six South Moluccan terrorists surrendered to police after holding 23 people hostage for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen. 1981 - Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in war in 1967. 1983 - The U.S. battleship New Jersey fired on Syrian positions in Lebanon for the first time after American F-14 reconnaissance flights were fired on. 1984 - Howard Cosell retired from the NFL's Monday Night Football. 1985 - Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she formally took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation ofOKlahoma. 1986 - The experimental aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The trip took nine days to complete. 1987 - Chrysler pled no contest to federal charges of selling several thousand vehicles as new when Chrysler employees had driven the vehicles with the odometer disconnected. 1988 - CBS won the exclusive rights to major league baseball's 1990-94 seasons for $1.1 billion. 1988 - The first transatlantic underwater fiber-optic cable went into service. 1990 - After 30 years in exile, ANC president Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa. 1993 - A judge in Colorado struck down the state's voter-approved Amendment Two prohibiting gay rights laws, calling it unconstitutional. 1993 - The United Mine Workers approved a five-year contract that ended a strike that had reached seven states and involved some of the nation's biggest coal operators. 1995 - The presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia signed the Dayton Accords to end fighting in Bosnia. 1995 - AIDS patient Jeff Getty received the first-ever bone-marrow transplant from a baboon. 1997 - Iran's newest president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a dialogue with the people of the United States. The preceding Iranian leaders had reviled the U.S.as "The Great Satan." 1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the fifth player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 700 career goals. 1997 - Cuban President Fidel Castro declared Christmas 1997 an official holiday to ensure the success of Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit to Cuba. 1998 - Hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel. 1999 - U.S. and German negotiators agreed to establish a $5.2 billion fund for Nazi-era slave and forced laborers. 1999 - Charles M. Schulz announced he was retiring the "Peanuts" comic strip. The last original "Peanuts" comic strip was published on February 13, 2000. 2000 - It was announced that American businessman Edmond Pope would be released from a Russian prison for humanitarian reasons. Pope had been sentenced to 20 years in prison after his conviction on espionage charges. 2001 - European Union leaders agreed to dispatch 3,000-4,000 troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. 2001 - The first commercial export, since 1963, of U.S. food to Cuba began. The 24,000 metric tons for corn were being sent to replenish what was lost when Hurricane Michelle struck on November 4.