Today in History

Today in History

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

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

1775 – The British took Bunker Hill outside of Boston.

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

1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy into his empire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1924 – The Fascist militia marched into Rome.

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

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

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

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

1932 – The U.S. Senate defeated the bonus bill as

10,000 veterans massed around the Capitol.

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

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

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

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

1942 – 'Suspense' debuted on CBS Radio.

History