Today in History

1681   The Treaty of Radzin ends a five year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.  
1745   England, Austria, Saxony and the Netherlands form an alliance against Russia.
1815   A rag-tag army under Andrew Jackson defeats the British on the fields of Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans.  
1871   Prussian troops begin to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
1892   A coal mine explosion kills 100 in McAlister, Oklahoma.  
1900   The Boers attack the British in Ladysmith, South Africa, but are turned back.  
1908   A subway line opens linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
1940   Great Britain begins rationing sugar, meat and butter.  
1946   President Harry S. Truman vows to stand by the Yalta accord on self-determination for the Balkans. 1954   President Dwight Eisenhower proposes stripping convicted Communists of their U.S. citizenship.  
1963   President John F. Kennedy attends the unveiling of the Mona Lisa.
1975   Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first female governor in the US who did not come into office by succeeding her husband.  
1979   The United States advises the Shah to leave Iran.  
1982   AT&T agrees to divest 22 subdivisions as part of an antitrust agreement.  
1994   Valeri Polyakov, a Russian cosmonaut leaves earth, bound for the Mir space station; he will spend a record 437 days in space.  
2002   The shrub signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act, intended to improve America's educational system.  
2004   The largest passenger ship in history, the RMS Queen Mary 2, is christened by Queen Elizabeth II, granddaughter of Queen Mary.  
2011   An attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords is part of a shooting spree in which Jared Lee Loughner kills 6 and wounds 13.