This Day In History
- 1779 John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.
- 1825 The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.
- 1829 A locomotive belonging to England's Stockton and Darlington line, pulled a passenger train down the tracks. It was the first time an engine -- not a horse -- had accomplished this. The locomotive, "The Rocket", was designed by George Stephenson with the help of his son Robert. It was the first truly successful steam locomotive, able to pull a train on smooth rails. (The very first steam engine locomotive was built by Richard Treithick, also of England, in 1804.)
- 1854 The first great disaster involving an ocean liner in the Atlantic occurred when the steamship Arctic sank with 300 people aboard.
- 1928 The United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.
- 1938 "Thanks for the Memory" was heard for the first time on "The Bob Hope Show" -- on the NBC Red radio network. Who was the bandleader? If you said Les Brown, you’d be ... wrong. It was Skinnay Ennis accompanying ol’ ski nose at the time.
- 1939 Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.
- 1942 Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, N.J., prior to Miller's entry into the Army.
- 1954 ''Tonight!'' hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.
- 1959 A typhoon battered the main Japanese island of Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people.
- 1990 The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Supreme Court nomination of David H. Souter.
- 1991 The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 1994 More than 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the ''Contract with America,'' a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.
- 1995 The government unveiled its redesigned $100 bill, featuring a larger, off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
- 1996 The Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.
- 1998 Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder was elected chancellor of Germany, ending 16 years of conservative rule.
- 1998 Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs duing the last game of the season.
- 1999 Tiger Stadium closed after 87 years, with Detroit beating the Kansas City Royals 8-2.
- 2001 An armed man went on a shooting rampage in the local parliament in Zug, Switzerland, killing 14 people before taking his own life.
- 2001 President George W. Bush announced plans to bolster airline security, including expanded use of federal marshals on airliners, making cockpits more secure and putting the federal government in charge of airport security.
- 1722 Samuel Adams (U.S. Revolutionary War leader; governor of Massachusetts [1793-1797]; cousin of U.S. President John Adams; died Oct 2, 1803)
- 1840 Thomas Nast (political cartoonist: considered the father of American political cartooning: drew cartoon [Harper’s Weekly] using elephant as symbol of Republican party; died Dec 7, 1902)
- 1920 Jayne Meadows (Cotter) (actress: City Slickers, Murder by Numbers, Lady in the Lake, The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, Medical Center; panelist: I’ve Got a Secret; wife of Steve Allen; sister of Audrey Meadows)
- 1924 Wilford Brimley (actor: Cocoon, The Natural, Tender Mercies, The Firm, Absence of Malice, The China Syndrome, The Electric Horseman, Our House)
No comments:
Post a Comment