Today In History

On this day...
    In 1683, the first German settlers in America, led by Daniel Pastorius and Johann Kelpius, established Germantown in what is now Pennsylvannia.
    In 1783, first self-winding clock patented.
    In 1786, the swollen Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers in Pennsylvania were filled with pumpkins that had been washed away from nearby fields. It was thereafter known as "the Pumpkin Flood."
    In 1847, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte was first published in London.
    In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.
    In 1857, Paul Morphy wins first American chess tournament in New York.
    In 1863, first Turkish bath in U.S. opens in Brooklyn, NY.
    In 1866, first train robbery of a train in motion in America by Reno Brothers; 2 safes thrown overboard.
    In 1868, patent for nickel plating awarded to inventor William H. Remington of Boston.
    In 1892, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet and Poet Laureate from 1850, died.
    In 1921, sports writer Grantland Rice was at the microphone as the World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time.
    In 1927, first full length talking picture "The Jazz Singer" with Al Jolson opens in N.Y.
    In 1928, war-torn China was reunited under the Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-Shek.
    In 1939, Adolf Hitler denied any intention to wage war against Britain and France in an address to Reichstag.
    In 1949, "Tokyo Rose" (Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino), who broadcast Japanese propaganda to U.S. forces in the Pacific during World War II, was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years imprisonment and fined $10,000 treason charges. [Mrs. D'Aquino dies in 2006.]

Berlin airlift ends.
    In 1959, Soviet Luna 3, first successful photo spacecraft, impacts moon.
    In 1961, President John F. Kennedy advised American families to build or buy bomb shelters to protect them in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.
    In 1966, U.S. Government declares LSD to be illegal.
    In 1973, 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territory that had been lost in the third Arab-Israel war. Support for Israel led to a devastating oil embargo against many nations including the U.S. and Great Britain on October 17, 1973. The war lasted 2 weeks.
    In 1977, the MiG-29 prototype (NATO reporting name "Fulcrum") makes its first flight.
    In 1979, Pope John Paul II, on a week-long U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Carter.
    In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by terrorists while reviewing a military parade. Hosni Mubarak became president.
    In 1983, Cardinal Terence Cooke, the spiritual head of the Archdiocese of New York, died at age 62.
    In 1985, Trombonist-bandleader-composer Nelson Riddle, who worked with some of the biggest names in popular music during the 50s and became a leading Hollywood arranger through his collaborations with Frank Sinatra, died.

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In 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81. Miss Davis won two Academy Awards for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938).

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev joined in festivities in East Berlin marking the 40th anniversary of East Germany, while thousands of refugees migrated to the West.

Two workers for the Swiss Red Cross were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon.
In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor married her eighth husband, builder Larry Fortensky. The ceremony was held at Michael Jackson's estate near Los Angeles, California. It was Taylor's 8th marriage and Fortensky's 3rd.

Cable News Network aired a videotape of American hostage, Terry Anderson, that had been made in Beirut, Lebanon.

Anita Hill, a former personal assistant to Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accused Thomas of sexual harassment.
In 1992, Ross Perot appeared in his first paid broadcast on CBS-TV after entering the U.S. presidential race.

A study said two-thirds of adults have oral herpes, and one-third have genital herpes.
    In 1993, Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan announced he was retiring.
    In 1994, in an address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, South African President Nelson Mandela warned against the lure of isolationism, saying the U.S. post-Cold War focus should be on eliminating "tyranny, instability and poverty" across the globe.
    In 1996, country music artists Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, having recently met and worked together on a joint tour, are married in Rayville, Louisiana. Guests at the ceremony include fellow country stars Mark Chesnutt, Mark Collie, Tracy Lawrence and Jeff Carson. The two postpone their honeymoon in order to resume their joint tour four days later.
    In 1997, Soviet war photographer Yevgeny Khaldei, best remembered for his pictures of Soviet soldiers hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin at the end of World War II, died aged 80.

President Clinton used his new line-item veto power to eliminate 38 military spending projects. [Note: The Supreme Court of the U.S. later found the line-item veto was unconstitutional.]
In 1998, with a House vote set on launching an open-ended impeachment inquiry, Democrats rushed to counter Republican plans while still underscoring their disapproval of President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Imelda Marcos was acquitted by the Philippine Supreme Court on the charge of graft. The ruling overturned the guilty verdict that had been found in 1993.

country group Alabama joins the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant honors band members Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook and Mark Herndon during a special ceremony. The new star is located at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard on the block which includes stars for Paul Newman, Sophia Loren, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis.
In 1999, destruction of 150 Minuteman III silos, in accordance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, begins near Langdon, North Dakota.

    In 2001, Cal Ripkin, Jr., retired from major league baseball after 21 years with the Baltimore Orioles. A retirement ceremony proceeded game number 3,001 in Cap Ripkin, Jr., career. He will be entered into the Cooperstown Hall of fame in 2007. Bravo zulu!
    In 2002, hundreds of law officers searched without success for the sniper blamed for six apparently random deaths in the Washington area over the past week.
    In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States faced the possibility of a futile war in Iraq, which he said could become a new center, a new magnet for all destructive elements.
    In 2004, a U.S. weapons inspector said that Iraq began destroying its illicit weapons in 1991 and had none by 1996, seven years before the United States invaded.
    In 2005, tropical storm Tammy brought wind gusts and flooding rains to northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as it moved north and weakened. The storm developed suddenly and made landfall after 7 p.m. Wednesday just north of Jacksonville, Florida. But as of 5 a.m. EDT today, winds had weakened to near 40 mph and its center was about 130 miles west-southwest of Savannah, Georgia, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.