This Day In History
- 79 Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. An estimated 20,000 people died.
- 1456 The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.
- 1572 The slaughter of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris.
- 1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.
- 1853 The American Pharmaceutical Association held its first convention.
- 1869 Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York received a patent for the waffle iron, a “device to bake waffles.” He didn’t waffle about putting his invention to good use. It quickly became a popular appliance. You would heat up the waffle iron on the old coal stove and later, the gas range pour the batter on the griddle, close the cover and after a few minutes, flip the griddle in its little groove, and cook the other side of the waffle. Not quite as convenient as our electric waffle irons, but, you can be sure, if it’s Swarthout!
- 1891 Thomas Edison applied for a movie camera patent. The most important element in making a movie ... the film ... was patented six years later.
- 1899 Argentine poet and author Jose Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires.
- 1912 The U.S. Post Office got heavy -- by abolishing its rule that only parcels up to four pounds could be sent through the system.
- 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just over 19 hours.
- 1949 The North Atlantic Treaty went into effect.
- 1954 The Communist Control Act went into effect, virtually outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.
- 1959 Three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator, while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.
- 1968 France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
- 1970 A bomb planted by anti-war extremists exploded at the University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center in Madison, killing a researcher.
- 1981 Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of rock musician John Lennon.
- 1989 Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for gambling.
- 1989 Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader, was out of baseball (banned for life). Rose signed a five-page agreement with A. Bartlett Giamatti, comissioner of baseball, who charged that Rose, as Cincinnati Reds manager, bet on baseball games.
- 1991 The day the Soviet Union began to break apart, and Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as head of the Communist party. (He resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union on Dec 25, 1991).
- 1992 One of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States occurred on this day as Hurricane Andrew crashed into southern Florida. Andrew left a trail of destruction that killed at least 20 people, left over 50,000 without homes and caused billions of dollars in property damage.
- 1995 Microsoft officially rolled out their Windows 95 operating system. Midnight parties at retailers across the U.S. offered the new system for sale to those who just couldn’t wait any longer. NBC’s Jay Leno hosted the official launch party at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. The company lit up the Empire State Building with the Windows 95 logo colors, and licensed the Rolling Stones song, "Start Me Up", to use in its TV advertisements (for $12 million).
- 1998 The United States and Britain agreed to allow two Libyan suspects in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.
- 1912 Durward (Randall) Kirby (TV announcer: The Garry Moore Show, The Perry Como Show, Auction-Aire; TV host: Candid Camera; died Mar 15, 2000)
- 1960 Cal (Calvin Edwin) Ripken Jr. (baseball: shortstop: Baltimore Orioles [Rookie of the Year: 1982/World Series: 1983/all-star: 1983 thru 1996/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1991/record: most consecutive games played: 1996])
- 1961 Mark Bedford (musician: bass: group: Madness: The Prince, Don’t Quote Me on That, Our House, My Girl, Baggy Trousers, Embarrassment, Return of the Los Palmos Seven, Cardiac Arrest, House of Fun, Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, Starvation, Ghost Train)
- 1962 Craig Kilborn (TV host: Late Late Show, The Daily Show)
- 1965 Marlee Matlin (Academy Award-winning actress: Children of a Lesser God [1986]; Hear No Evil, Bridge to Silence, Reasonable Doubts)
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