Today in History

1624   Riots flare in Mexico when it is announced that all cults are to be closed.  
1811   In a secret session, Congress plans to annex Spanish East Florida.  
1865   Union troops capture Fort Fisher, North Carolina.  
1913   The first telephone line between Berlin and New York is inaugurated.
1919   Peasants in Central Russia rise against the Bolsheviks.  
1920   The Dry Law goes into effect in the United States. Selling liquor and beer becomes illegal.  
1920   The United States approves a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid in their war with the Russian communists.  
1927   The Dumbarton Bridge opens in San Francisco carrying the first auto traffic across the bay.
1929   The U.S. Senate ratifies the Kellogg-Briand anti-war pact.  
1930   Amelia Earhart sets an aviation record for women at 171 mph in a Lockheed Vega.  
1936   In London, Japan quits all naval disarmament talks after being denied equality.  
1944   The U.S. Fifth Army successfully breaks the German Winter Line in Italy with the capture of Mount Trocchio.  
1949   Chinese Communists occupy Tientsin after a 27-hour battle with Nationalist forces.  
1965   Sir Winston Churchill suffers a severe stroke.  
1967   Some 462 Yale faculty members call for an end to the bombing in North Vietnam.  
1973   US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam.  
1973   Four of six remaining Watergate defendants plead guilty.
1975   The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of independence and granting that country independence from Portugal.
1976   Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.  
1991   UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm.  
1991   Britain's Queen Elizabeth II approves Australia instituting its own Victoria Cross honors system, the first county in the British Commonwealth permitted to do so.  
1992   Slovenia and Croatia's independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is recognized by the international community.  
2001   Wikipedia goes online.