Today in History

Today in History

1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sign a decree expelling all Jews from Spain.

1840 “Beau” Brummell, the English dandy and former favorite of the prince regent, dies in a French lunatic asylum for paupers.

1858 Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents the pencil with an eraser attached on one end.

1867 Russian Baron Stoeckl and U.S. Secretary of State Seward completed the draft of a treaty ceding Alaska to the United States. The treaty is signed the following day. 1870 The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, passes.

1870 President U.S. Grant signs bill readmitting Texas to the Union, the last Confederate state readmitted.

1885 In Afghanistan, Russian troops inflict a crushing defeat on Afghan forces Ak Teppe despite orders not to fight.

1909 The Queensboro Bridge in New York opens. It is the first double decker bridge and links Manhattan and Queens.

1916 Mexican bandit Pancho Villa kills 172 at the Guerrero garrison in Mexico.

1936 Britain announces a naval construction program of 38 warships. This is the largest construction program in 15 years.

1941 The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel begins its first offensive against British forces in Libya.

1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, Oklahoma, opens on Broadway.

1944 The U.S. fleet attacks Palau, near the Philippines.

1945 The Red Army advances into Austria.

1946 The Allies seize 1,000 Nazis attempting to revive the Nazi party in Frankfurt.

1950 President Harry S Truman denounces Senator Joe McCarthy as a saboteur of U.S. foreign policy.

1957 Tunisia and Morocco sign a friendship treaty in Rabat.

1972 Hanoi launches its heaviest attack in four years, crossing the DMZ.

1975 As the North Vietnamese forces move toward Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese soldiers mob rescue jets.

1981 President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in Washington, D.C. by John W. Hinkley Jr.

1987 Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is bought for

$39.85 million.

Born

1719 Sir John Hawkins, author of the first history of music.

1820 Anna Sewell, English novelist (Black Beauty).

1853 Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch impressionist artist.

1880 Sean O’Casey, Irish playwright.

1883 Jo Davidson, American sculptor.

History