Today in History

Today in History

1494 – Spain and Portugal divided the new lands they had discovered between themselves.

1498 – Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration.

1546 – Peace of Ardes ended the war between France and England.

1654 – Louis XIV was crowned king of France.

1712 – The Pennsylvania Assembly banned the importation of slaves.

1775 – The United Colonies changed their name to the United States.

1776 – Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.

1863 – Mexico City was captured by French troops.

1892 – J.F. Palmer patented the cord bicycle tire.

1892 – John Joseph Doyle became the first pinch-hitter in baseball when he was used in a game.

1900 – Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.

1903 – Professor Pierre Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium.

1909 – Mary Pickford made her motion picture debut in 'The Violin Maker of Cremona.'

1929 – The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

1932 – Over 7,000 war veterans marched on Washington, DC, demanding their bonuses.

1935 – Pierre Laval received emergency powers to save the franc.

1937 – The cover of 'LIFE' magazine showed the latest in campus fashions of the times, which included saddle shoes.

1939 – King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the U.S. It was the first visit to the U.S. by a reigning British monarch.

1942 – The Battle of Midway ended. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.

1942 – Japan landed troops on the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. The U.S. invaded and recaptured the Alutians one year later.

1944 – Off of the coast of Normandy, France, the Susan B. Anthony sank. All 2,689 people aboard survived.

1948 – The Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia.

1955 – 'The $64,000 Question' premiered.

1966 – Sony Corporation unveiled its brand new consumer home videotape recorder. The black and white only unit sold for $995.

1965 – In the U.S., the Gemini 4 mission was completed. The mission featured the first spacewalk by an American.

1968 – In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.

1968 – Legoland Billund opend in Billund, Denmark. It was the original Legoland park.

1976 – 'The NBC Nightly News', with John Chancellor and David Brinkley, aired for the first time.

1981 – Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.

1983 – The U.S. ordered Nicaragua to close all six of its consulates and informed 21 Nicaraguan consular officials that they could not longer remain in the U.S.

1994 – The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared the RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST) salvor-in-possession of the wreck and the wreck site of the RMS Titanic.

2000 – U.S. Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corporation.

History