Today in History

644		Umar of Arabia is assassinated at Medina and is succeeded as caliph by Uthman.
1493		Christopher Columbus discovers Guadeloupe during his second expedition.
1677		William III and Mary of England wed on William’s birthday.
1760		Following the Russian capture of Berlin, Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Torgau.
1791		General Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, is badly defeated by a large Indian army near Fort Wayne.
1798		Congress agrees to pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to protect U.S. shipping.
1842		Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill.
1854		Florence Nightingale and her nurses arrive in the Crimea.
1863		From the main Confederate Army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s troops are sent northeast to besiege Knoxville.
1918		Austria signs an armistice with the Allies.
1922		The U.S. Postmaster General orders all homes to get mailboxes or relinquish delivery of mail.
1922		The entrance to King Tut’s tomb is discovered.
1924		Calvin Coolidge is elected 30th president of the United States.
1924		Nellie Tayloe Ross and Miriam Ferguson are elected first and second women governors (Wyoming and Texas).
1946		The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is established.
1952		General Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected 34th president of the United States.
1956		Russian troops attack Budapest, Hungary.
1979		At the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran, 90 people, including 63 Americans, are taken hostage by militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. The students demand the return of Shah Mohammad Reza Pablavi, who is undergoing medical treatment in New York City.
1980		Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president of the United States.
1992		Carol Moseley Braun becomes the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
1995		Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
2008		Senator Barack Obama of Illinois elected 44th president of the United States, the first African American to hold that position.