Today in History

1521   Martin Luther is excommunicated from the catholic cult.  
1777   General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey.
1861   Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union.
1903   The Bulgarian government renounces the Treaty of Commerce tying it to the Austro-Hungarian empire.  
1910   The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demands universal suffrage.  
1912   Plans are announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team.  
1916   Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal.  
1920   The last of the U.S. troops depart France.  
1921   Italy halts the issuing of passports to those emigrating to the United States.  
1924   King Tutankhamen's sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt.
1930   The second conference on Germany's war reparations begins at the Hague, in the Netherlands.
1931   Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.  
1933   The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 Chinese.
1946   President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis.  
1958   The British create the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general.  
1959   Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state.  
1959   Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army.  
1961   The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.  
1966   Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions.
1977   Apple Computers incorporates.  
1978   North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces.  
1985   President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics.  
1990   Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to US forces.  
1993   The shrub's daddy and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).  
1994   More than 7 million people receive South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies.
1996   The first mobile flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale.
1999   Mars Polar Lander launched.  
2000   The last original weekday Peanuts comic strip is published after a 50-year run, following the death of the strip's creator, Charles Schultz.