Today in History

1861   Lord Lyons, The British minister to America presents a formal complaint to secretary of state, William Seward, regarding the Trent affair.  
1900   The Federal Party, which recognizes American sovereignty, is formed in the Philippines.  
1919   Great Britain institutes a new constitution for India.  
1921   President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.  
1933   Pope Pius XI condemns the Nazi sterilization program.  
1937   London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.  
1939   The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain.  
1940   Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.  
1941   Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.  
1944   General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirms the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.
1947   President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.  
1948   Japan's Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.
1950   General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.  
1967   U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.  
1974   The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.  
1986   The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.
1990   In a referendum on Sovlenia's independence from Yugoslovia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.
2002   An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a US MQ-1 Predator drone.