Today in History

955		Otto organizes his nobles and defeats the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in Germany.
1539		King Francis of France declares that all official documents are to be written in French, not Latin.
1557		French troops are defeated by Emmanuel Philibert’s Spanish army at St. Quentin, France.
1582		Russia ends its 25-year war with Poland.
1628		The Swedish warship Vasa capsizes and sinks in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage.
1779		Louis XVI of France frees the last remaining serfs on royal land.
1831		William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, is the first to use the term "Old Glory" in connection with the American flag, when he gives that name to a large flag aboard his ship, the Charles Daggett.
1846		The Smithsonian Institution is established in Washington through the bequest of James Smithson.
1864		Confederate Commander John Bell Hood sends his cavalry north of Atlanta to cut off Union General William Sherman’s supply lines.
1911		The House of Lords in Great Britain gives up its veto power, making the House of Commons the more powerful House.
1913		The Treaty of Bucharest ends the Second Balkan War.
1941		Great Britain and the Soviet Union promise aid to Turkey if it is attacked by the AxisPowers.
1949		National Military Establishment renamed Department of Defense.
1950		President Harry S. Truman calls the National Guard to active duty to fight in the Korean War.
1954		English jockey Sir Gordon Richards retires with a world-record total of 4,870 victories, later broken by Johnny Longden of the United States. Richards was the first jockey ever to be knighted.
1954		The groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Lawrence Seaway is held at Massena, New York.
1960		NASA launches Discoverer 13 satellite; it would become the first object ever recovered from orbit.
1970		Rocker Jim Morrison tried in Miami on "lewd & lascivious behavior." Although convicted and sentenced to jail, he was free on bond while his case was being appealed when he died in Paris, July 3, 1971.
1975		David Frost purchases the exclusive rights to interview Richard Nixon.
1977		US and Panama sign Panama Canal Zone accord, guaranteeing Panama would have control of the canal after 1999.
1994		The last British troops leave Hong Kong. After 153 years of British rule, the island is returned to China.
2003		For the first time ever, temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit when thermometers hit 101.3 F (38.5 Celsius)  at Kent.
2006		All toiletries are banned from commercial airplanes after Scotland Yard disrupts a a major terrorist plot involving liquid explosives. After a few weeks, the toiletries ban was modified.