Today in History

1220
After promising to go to the aid of the Fifth Crusade within nine months, Frederick II is crowned emperor by Pope Honorius III.
1542
New laws are passed in Spain giving Indians in America protection against enslavement.
1757
The Austrian army defeats the Prussians at Breslau in the Seven Years War.
1847
In New York, the Astor Place Opera House, the city's first operatic theater, is opened.
1902
A fire causes considerable damage to the unfinished Williamsburg bridge in New York.
1915
The Anglo-Indian army, led by British General Sir Charles Townshend, attacks a larger Turkish force under General Nur-ud-Din at Ctesiphon, Iraq, but is repulsed.
1919
A Labor conference committee in the United States urges an eight-hour workday and a 48-hour week.
1928
British King George is confined to bed with a congested lung; the queen is to take over duties.
1935
Pan Am inaugurates the first transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila.
1936
1,200 soldiers are killed in a battle between the Japanese and Mongolians in China.
1942
Soviet troops complete the encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.
1948
Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam requests admittance to the UN.
1963
Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president.
1964
Almost 40,000 people pay tribute to John F. Kennedy at Arlington Cemetery on the first anniversary of his death.
1973
Great Britain announces a plan for moderate Protestants and Catholics to share power in Northern Ireland.
1980
Eighteen Communist Party secretaries in 49 provinces are ousted from Poland.
1982
President Ronald Reagan calls for defense-pact deployment of the MX missile.
1986
Justice Department finds memo in Lt. Col. Oliver North's office on the transfer of $12 million to Contras of Nicaragua from Iranian arms sale.