Today In History
This is another history catch up post
10/18
1685King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had established the legal toleration of France's Protestant population, the Huguenots.
1767 The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon.
1867The United States took possession of Alaska from Russia.
1892The first long distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was opened.
1898The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island to the United States.
1944 Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.
1977 West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.
2001 Four defendants were convicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
2001It was announced that a New Jersey letter carrier and an employee in CBS news anchorman Dan Rather's office had tested positive for skin anthrax.
2006 The Dow Jones industrial average passed 12,000 for the first time before pulling back to close at 11,992.68.
10/19
1765The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
781 British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.
1812French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began a retreat from Moscow.
1944The Navy announced that black women would be allowed into the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
1950 United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951President Harry S. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.
1960The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba.
1969Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."
2001Two Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan in the first combat-related American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
001It was announced that a New Jersey postal worker and a New York Post employee had tested positive for skin anthrax.
2004Insurgents in Iraq abducted Margaret Hassan, the local director of CARE International, from her car in Baghdad. (Hassan was later slain by her captors.)
2005 A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture at his trial in the former headquarters of his Baath Party in Baghdad.
2006Gunmen ambushed a car carrying Afghan civilians working for a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, killing eight of them execution-style.
2006 The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 12,000 for the first time, ending at 12,011.73.
10/20
1947 The House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the motion picture industry.
1973 Special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus were fired and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigned in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre.
1977 Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.
2000Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen who'd served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
2004A U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan "Chip" Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison.)
2005A defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial was abducted from his office and found murdered hours later.
10/21
1797The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston Harbor.
1805 A British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed.
1967Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.
1988 A federal grand jury in New York indicted former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, on charges of fraud and racketeering.
2001Washington postal worker Thomas L. Morris Jr. died of inhaled anthrax.
2002A car packed with explosives blew up next to a bus in northern Israel during rush hour; 14 people were killed in addition to two suicide attackers.
2003 The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding that Israel tear down a barrier jutting into the West Bank.
10/22
1797French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet.
1928 Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the "American system of rugged individualism" in a speech at New York's Madison Square Garden.
1954 West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1979The U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment.
2001Washington postal worker Joseph P. Curseen died of inhaled anthrax.
2004 In a wrenching videotaped statement, kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan begged Britain to help save her by withdrawing its troops from Iraq, saying these "might be my last hours." (Hassan was later killed by her captors.)
1767 The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon.
1867The United States took possession of Alaska from Russia.
1892The first long distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was opened.
1898The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island to the United States.
1944 Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.
| 1968 | The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, for giving a "black power" salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City. | ||
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1977 West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.
2001 Four defendants were convicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
2001It was announced that a New Jersey letter carrier and an employee in CBS news anchorman Dan Rather's office had tested positive for skin anthrax.
2006 The Dow Jones industrial average passed 12,000 for the first time before pulling back to close at 11,992.68.
10/19
AP Highlight in History: On Oct. 19, 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent - its second biggest percentage drop. | |
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1765The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York, drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
781 British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.
1812French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte began a retreat from Moscow.
1944The Navy announced that black women would be allowed into the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
1950 United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951President Harry S. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.
1960The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba.
1969Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters "an effete corps of impudent snobs."
 | Vice President Spiro T. Agnew |
AND HE WAS CORRECT!!!
2001Two Army Rangers were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan in the first combat-related American deaths of the military campaign in Afghanistan.
001It was announced that a New Jersey postal worker and a New York Post employee had tested positive for skin anthrax.
2004Insurgents in Iraq abducted Margaret Hassan, the local director of CARE International, from her car in Baghdad. (Hassan was later slain by her captors.)
2005 A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of premeditated murder and torture at his trial in the former headquarters of his Baath Party in Baghdad.
2006Gunmen ambushed a car carrying Afghan civilians working for a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, killing eight of them execution-style.
2006 The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 12,000 for the first time, ending at 12,011.73.
10/20
AP Highlight in History: On Oct. 20, 1967, seven of 18 defendants were convicted in Mississippi of violating the civil rights of three young men who were murdered while trying to help blacks register to vote in 1964. | |
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| 1944 | Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he'd said, "I shall return." | ||
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1947 The House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the motion picture industry.
And we need to do it again!
1973 Special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus were fired and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigned in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre.
1977 Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.
2000Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen who'd served in the Army, pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan the deadly U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
2004A U.S. Army staff sergeant, Ivan "Chip" Frederick, pleaded guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison.)
2005A defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial was abducted from his office and found murdered hours later.
10/21
AP Highlight in History: On Oct. 21, 1917, American soldiers first saw action in World War I on the front lines in France. |
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1797The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston Harbor.
1805 A British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed.
1967Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.
1988 A federal grand jury in New York indicted former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, on charges of fraud and racketeering.
2001Washington postal worker Thomas L. Morris Jr. died of inhaled anthrax.
2002A car packed with explosives blew up next to a bus in northern Israel during rush hour; 14 people were killed in addition to two suicide attackers.
2003 The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding that Israel tear down a barrier jutting into the West Bank.
10/22
AP Highlight in History: On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.
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1797French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet.
1928 Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the "American system of rugged individualism" in a speech at New York's Madison Square Garden.
1954 West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1979The U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment.
2001Washington postal worker Joseph P. Curseen died of inhaled anthrax.
2004 In a wrenching videotaped statement, kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan begged Britain to help save her by withdrawing its troops from Iraq, saying these "might be my last hours." (Hassan was later killed by her captors.)
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