Today in History

1626		Huguenot rebels and the French sign the Peace of La Rochelle.
1778		France recognizes the United States and signs a treaty of aid in Paris.
1788		Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the Constitution.
1862		Forces under the command of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote capture Fort Henry, Tennessee, in the Battle of Fort Henry, giving the Union its first victory of the Civil War.
1891		The Dalton Gang commits its first crime, a train robbery in Alila, Calif.
1899		The Spanish-American War ends.
1900		President McKinley appoints W.H. Taft commissioner to report on the Philippines.
1904		Japan’s foreign minister severs all ties with Russia, citing delaying tactics in negotiations over Manchuria.
1916		Germany admits full liability for Lusitania incident and recognizes the United State’s right to claim indemnity.
1922		The Washington Disarmament Conference comes to an end with signature of final treaty forbidding fortification of the Aleutian Islands for 14 years.
1926		Mussolini warns Germany to stop agitation in Tyrol.
1929		Germany accepts Kellogg-Briand pact.
1933		Adolf Hitler‘s Third Reich begins press censorship.
1936		Adolf Hitler opens the Fourth Winter Olympics.
1941		The RAF clears the way as British take Benghazi, trapping thousands of Italians.
1944		Kwajalein Island in the Central Pacific falls to U.S. Army troops.
1945		MacArthur reports the fall of Manila, and the liberation of 5,000 prisoners.
1963		The United States reports that all Soviet offensive arms are out of Cuba.
1964		Cuba blocks the water supply to Guantanamo Naval Base in rebuke of the United State’s seizure of four Cuban fishing boats.
1964		Paris and London agree to build a rail tunnel under the English Channel.
1965		Seven U.S. GIs are killed in a Viet Cong raid on a base in Pleiku.
1968		Charles de Gaulle opens the 19th Winter Olympics in France.
1975		President Gerald Ford asks Congress for $497 million in aid to Cambodia.
1977		Queen Elizabeth marks her Silver Jubilee.
1982		Civil rights workers begin a march from Carrolton to Montgomery, Alabama.