Today in History

1493		Christopher Columbus discovers Antigua during his second expedition.
1556		The English explorer Richard Chancellor is drowned off Aberdeenshire on his return from a second voyage to Russia.
1647		All Dutch-held areas of New York are returned to English control by the treaty of Westminster.
1775		The U.S. Marine Corps is founded.
1782		In the last battle of the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark attacks Indians and Loyalists at Chillicothe, in Ohio Territory.
1871		Henry M. Stanley finds Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji near Unyanyembe in Africa.
1879		Little Bighorn participant Major Marcus Reno is caught window-peeping at the daughter of his commanding officer—an offense for which he will be courtmartialed.
1911		President Howard Taft ends a 15,000-mile, 57-day speaking tour.
1911		The Imperial government of China retakes Nanking.
1917		Forty-one US suffragettes are arrested protesting outside the White House.
1938		Fascist Italy enacts anti-Semitic legislation.
1941		Winston Churchill promises to join the U.S. “within the hour” in the event of war with Japan.
1942		Admiral Jean Darlan orders French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the Anglo-American forces.
1952		The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the decision barring segregation on interstate railways.
1961		Andrew Hatcher is named associate press secretary to President John F. Kennedy.
1962		Eleanor Roosevelt is buried. She had died three days earlier.
1964		Australia begins a draft to fulfill its commitment in Vietnam.
1969		The PBS children’s program Sesame Street debuts.
1971		Two women are tarred and feathered in Belfast for dating British soldiers, while in Londonderry, Northern Ireland a Catholic girl is also tarred and feathered for her intention of marrying a British soldier.
1972		Hijackers divert a jet to Detroit, demanding $10 million and ten parachutes.
1975		The iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald breaks in half and sinks at the eastern end of Lake Superior–all 29 crew members perish.
1986		Reagan refuses to reveal details of the Iran arms sale.
1989		German citizens begin tearing down the Berlin Wall.
1997		WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a merger, the largest in US history up to that time.
2008		NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after losing communications with the lander, five months after it began its exploration on the surface of Mars.
2009		North Korean and South Korean ships skirmish off Daecheong Island.