Today in History

1626		The Danes are crushed by the Catholic League in Germany, marking the end of Danish intervention in European wars.
1776		The Americans are defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York.
1793		Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France.
1813		The Allies defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden.
1861		Union troops make an amphibious landing at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1862		As the Second Battle of Bull Run rages, Confederate soldiers attack Loudoun County, Virginia.
1881		New York state’s Pure Food Law goes into effect to prevent “the adulteration of food or drugs.”
1894		The United States congress passes an income tax law as part of a general tariff act, but it is found unconstitutional.
1910		Thomas Edison demonstrates the first “talking” pictures–using a phonograph–in his New Jersey laboratory.
1912		Edgar Rice Burrough‘s Tarzan of the Apes first appears in a magazine.
1916		Italy declares war on Germany.
1928		Fifteen nations sign the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, outlawing war and calling for the settlement of disputes through arbitration. Forty-seven other countries eventually sign the pact.
1941		The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumimaro Konoye, issues an invitation for a meeting with President Franklin Roosevelt.
1945		B-29 Superfortress bombers begin to drop supplies into Allied prisoner of war camps in China.
1963		Cambodia severs ties with South Vietnam.
1975		Veronica & Colin Scargill of England complete a tandem bicycle ride around the world, a record 18,020 miles (29,000.4 km).
1979		Lord Mountbatten is killed by an Irish terrorist bomb in his sailboat in Sligo, Ireland.
1984		Reagan announces the NASA Teacher in Space project, intended to inspire students, honor teachers, and spur interest in the fields of science, mathematics, and space exploration.
1989		Chuck Berry performs his tune Johnny B. Goode for NASA staff in celebration of Voyager II‘s encounter with the planet Neptune.
1991		Moldavia declares independence from USSR.
1993		The Rainbow Bridge, an 1,870-foot suspension bridge over Tokyo Bay, is completed.
2003		Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km).
2008		Democrats nominate Barack Obama for president, the first African American nominated by a major political party for the office of President of the United States.
2012		The first interplanetary human voice recording is broadcast from the Mars Rover Curiosity.