Today in History

1520
Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, having discovered a strait at the tip of South America, enters the Pacific.
1729
Natchez Indians massacre most of the 300 French settlers and soldiers at Fort Rosalie, Louisiana.
1861
The Confederate Congress admits Missouri to the Confederacy, although Missouri has not yet seceded from the Union.
1868
Mt. Etna in Sicily violently erupts.
1872
The Modoc War of 1872-73 begins in northern California when fighting breaks out between Modoc Chief Captain Jack and a cavalry detail led by Captain James Jackson.
1899
The British are victorious over the Boers at Modder River.
1919
Lady Astor is elected the first woman in Parliament.
1925
The forerunner of the Grand Ole Opry, called the WSM Barn Dance, opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
1935
The German Reich declares all men ages 18 to 45 as army reservists.
1937
Spanish leader Francisco Franco blockades the Spanish coast.
1939
The Soviet Union scraps its nonaggression pact with Finland.
1941
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise departs from Pearl Harbor to deliver F4F Wildcat fighters to Wake Island. This mission saves the carrier from destruction when the Japanese attack.
1943
Sir Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt meet at Tehran, Iran, to hammer out war aims.
1944
The first shipment of supplies reach Antwerp by convoy, a new route for the Allies.
1948
Dr. Edwin Land’s first Polaroid cameras go on sale in Boston.
1950
In Korea, 200,000 Communist troops launch attack on UN forces.
1961
Ernie Davis becomes the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
1963
Cape Canaveral is renamed Cape Kennedy.
1971
The Anglican cult ordains the first two women as priests.
1975
East Timor declares independence from Portugal.
1980
Operation Morvarid (Iran-Iraq War) takes place; Iranian Navy destroys over 70% of Iraqi Navy.
1984
Wingnut Robert Dole is elected Senate majority leader.
1989
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.
1991
South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.
2002
Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.