Today In The Past
Events
930 – World’s oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, established
1683 – William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape indians in Pennsylvania;
1775 – 1st regatta held on Thames, England
1776 – Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to US Congress
1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township.
1784 – 1st US balloon flight (13 year old Edward Warren)
1810 – John Jacob Astor organizes Pacific Fur Co (Astoria, Oregon)
1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes patents “Type-writer”
1888 – Frederick Douglass is 1st African-American nominated for president
1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
1931 – Wiley Post & Harold Catty took off for flight around world
1939 – Bronko Nagurski beats Lou Thesz in Houston, to become wrestling champ
1947 – Truman’s veto of Taft-Hartley Act overridden by congress
1949 – 1st 12 women graduate from Harvard Medical School
1950 – Swiss parliament refuses voting right for women
1952 – US airplanes bomb energy centers at Yalu Korea
1955 – Walt Disney’s “Lady & the Tramp” released
1961 – USAF Maj Robert M White takes X-15 to 32,830 m
1964 – Gen Maxwell Taylor appointed US ambassador in South Vietnam
1967 – Jim Ryun sets mile record (3:51.1, Bakersfield CA)
1969 – Warren E Burger sworn in as Supreme Court Chief Justice
1974 – 1st extraterrestrial message sent from Earth into space
1976 – CCN Tower in Toronto, tallest free-standing structure (555 m) opens
1979 – Charlie Daniels Band releases “Devil Went Down to Georgia”
1979 – Rock group, the Knack releases “My Sharona”
1981 – 33 inning game ends, Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2
1982 – -117°F; All time low at South Pole
1986 – Tip O’Neill refuses to let Reagan address House
1991 – Mazda becomes 1st Japanese car to capture Le Mans 24 hour race
1993 – Lorena Gallo Bobbitt amputates husband’s John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis
1997 – Dow Jones drops 192.25 pts
Births
47 BC – Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt (d. 30 BC)
1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
1894 – Alfred Kinsey, Hoboken, New Jersey, American entomologist/sexologist (Kinsey Report)
1894 – Edward VIII, King of Great Brit/N-Ireland/emperor of India (1936)
1902 – Howard T Engstrom, Boston, computer designer (Univac)
1940 – Wilma Rudolph, St Bethlehem Tenn, runner (Olympic-3 gold-1960)
1943 – Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer, Turing Award laureate
1948 – Clarence Thomas, Savannah Ga, 108th US Supreme Court Justice (1991- )
1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
Deaths
79 – Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. 9)
1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
1916 – Victor Chapman, US legionaire/WW I pilot, killed
1945 – Lt Gen Ushijima, Japanese commander, commits suicide at Okinawa
1970 – Roscoe Turner, American aviator and racer (b. 1895)
1995 – Jonas Salk, biologist (Polio vaccine), dies of heart failure
2005 – Shana Alexander, American columnist (b. 1926)
2009 – Ed McMahon, American television personality (b. 1923)
2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (b. 1927)
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