Today in History

Today in History

1519 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.

1870 – The Papal States came under the control of Italian troops, leading to the unification of Italy.

1881 – Chester A. Arthur became the 21st president of the U.S. President James A. Garfield had died the day before.

1884 – The Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, CA.

1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, started a daily radio newscast. It was one of the first in the U.S.

1946 – The first Cannes Film Festival premiered. The original premier was delayed in 1939 due to World War II.

1946 – WNBT-TV in New York became the first station to promote a motion picture. Scenes from 'The Jolson Story' were shown.

1953 – The TV show 'Letter to Loretta' premiered. The name was changed to 'The Loretta Young Show' on February 14, 1954.

1953 – Jimmy Stewart debuted on the radio western 'The Six Shooter' on NBC.

1955 – 'You'll Never Be Rich' premiered on CBS-TV. The name was changed less than two months later to 'The Phil Silvers Show.'

1962 – James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted.

1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

1967 – The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was launched. It went out of service on November 27, 2008.

1977 – The first of the 'boat people' arrived in San Francisco from Southeast Asia under a new U.S. resettlement program.

1982 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S., France, and Italy were going to send peacekeeping troops back to Beirut. 1984 – 'The Cosby Show' premiered on NBC-TV.

1988 – The United Nations opened it 43rd General Assembly.

1989 – F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as president of South Africa.

1991 – U.N. weapons inspectors left for Iraq in a renewed search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

1992 – French voters approved the Maastricht Treaty.

1995 – AT& T announced that it would be splitting into three companies. The three companies were AT& T, Lucent Technologies, and NCR Corp.

1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national speed limit. This allowed the states to decide their own speed limits.

2013 – Apple released the iPhone 5s.

Born

1833 Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke), humorist whose work was enjoyed by Abraham Lincoln.

1842 Lord James Dewar, physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first smokeless powder.

1878 Upton Sinclair, author best known today for The Jungle.

1884 Maxwell Perkins, editor, the first to publish F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe.

1885 Ferdinand La Menthe (Jelly Roll Morton), jazz pianist, composer and singer, one of the first to orchestrate jazz music.

1891 Lamine Gueye, Senegalese political leader.

1917 Arnold “Red” Auerbach, second most wins basketball coach in history with 1,037 victories for the Boston Celtics.

1920 Jay Ward, creator and producer of animated TV cartoons (Rocky & His Friends, renamed The Bullwinkle Show; George of the Jungle).

1934 Sofia Loren (Sofia Scicolone), first actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for a performance in a non-English language film (Two Women); received Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements (1995).

1941 Dale Chihuly, sculptor known for his unique creations in blown glass.

1967 Kristen Johnston, actress; won two Emmy Awards as Sally Solomon in 3rd Rock from the Sun TV series.

History