Today in History

322 BC		The Greek philosopher Aristotle dies.
161		On the death of Antoninus at Lorium, Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor.
1774		The British close the port of Boston to all commerce.
1799		In Palestine, Napoleon captures Jaffa and his men massacre more than 2,000 Albanian prisoners.
1809		Aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard — the first person to make an aerial voyage in the New World — dies at the age of 56.
1838		Soprano Jenny Lind (“the Swedish Nightingale”) makes her debut in Weber’s opera Der Freischultz.
1847		U.S. General Winfield Scott occupies Vera Cruz, Mexico.
1849		The Austrian Reichstag is dissolved.
1862		Confederate forces surprise the Union army at the Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas, but the Union is victorious.
1876		Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the telephone.
1904		The Japanese bomb the Russian town of Vladivostok.
1906		Finland becomes the third country to give women the right to vote, decreeing universal suffrage for all citizens over 24, however, barring those persons who are supported by the state.
1912		French aviator, Heri Seimet flies non-stop from London to Paris in three hours.
1918		Finland signs an alliance treaty with Germany.
1925		The Soviet Red Army occupies Outer Mongolia.
1927		A Texas law that bans Negroes from voting is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
1933		The board game Monopoly is invented.
1933		The film King Kong premieres in New York City.
1935		Malcolm Campbell sets an auto speed record of 276.8 mph in Florida.
1936		Hitler sends German troops into the Rhineland, violating the Locarno Pact.
1942		Japanese troops land on New Guinea.
1951		U.N. forces in Korea under General Matthew Ridgeway launch Operation Ripper, an offensive to straighten out the U.N. front lines against the Chinese.
1968		The Battle of Saigon, begun on the day of the Tet Offensive, ends.
1971		A thousand U.S. planes bomb Cambodia and Laos.
1979		Voyager 1 reaches Jupiter.