Today in History

515 BC		The building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem is completed.
241 BC		The Roman fleet sinks 50 Carthaginian ships in the Battle of Aegusa.
49 BC		Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon and invades Italy.
1656		In the colony of Virginia, suffrage is extended to all free men regardless of their religion.
1776		"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is published.
1785		Thomas Jefferson is appointed minister to France.
1806		The Dutch in Cape Town, South Africa surrender to the British.
1814		Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by an allied army at the Battle of Laon, France.
1848		The treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo is signed which ends the United States' war with Mexico.
1876		Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call to Thomas Watson saying "Watson, come here. I need you."
1893		New Mexico State University cancels its first graduation ceremony, because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.
1902		The Boers of South Africa score their last victory over the British, capturing British General Methuen and 200 men.
1910		Slavery is abolished in China.
1924		The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
1927		Prussia lifts its Nazi ban, Adolf Hitler is allowed to speak in public.
1933		Nevada becomes the first U.S. state to regulate drugs.
1941		Vichy France threatens to use its navy unless Britain allows food to reach France.
1943		Adolf Hitler calls Field Marshall Erwin Rommel back from Tunisia in North Africa.
1944		The Irish refuse to oust all Axis envoys and deny the accusation of spying on Allied troops.
1945		American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, killing 100,000.
1947		The Big Four meet in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.
1948		Author Zelda Fitzgerald (wife of F. Scott) dies in a fire at Highland Hospital.
1953		North Korean gunners at Wonsan fire on the USS Missouri, the ship responds by firing 998 rounds at the enemy position.
1954		President Dwight Eisenhower calls Senator Joseph McCarthy a peril to the Republican Party.
1966		The North Vietnamese capture a Green Beret camp at Ashau Valley.
1969		James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King and is sentenced to 99 years in jail.
1971		The Senate approves a Constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
1975		The North Vietnamese Army attacks the South Vietnamese town of Ban Me Thout, the offensive will end with total victory in Vietnam.
1980		Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, lends his support to the militants holding the American hostages in Tehran.
1982		The United States bans Libyan oil imports, because of the continued support of terrorism.
1987		The Vatican condemns surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.