Today in History

1774		The first Continental Congress, which protested British measures and called for civil disobedience, concludes in Philadelphia.
1795		General Paul Barras resigns his commission as head of France’s Army of the Interior to become head of the Directory; his second-in-command becomes the army’s commander—Napoleon Bonaparte.
1825		The first boat on the Erie Canal leaves Buffalo, N.Y.
1881		Three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday have a shootout with the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
1905		Norway signs a treaty of separation with Sweden. Norway chooses Prince Charles of Denmark as the new king; he becomes King Haakon VII.
1918		Germany’s supreme commander, General Erich Ludendorff, resigns, protesting the terms to which the German Government has agreed in negotiating the armistice. This sets the stage for his later support for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who claim that Germany did not lose the war on the battlefield but were “stabbed in the back” by politicians.
1942		The Japanese attack Guadalcanal, sinking two U.S. carriers.
1942		The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Hornet is sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island, in the South Pacific.
1944		The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming U.S. victory as combined American and Australian forces cripple the Imperial Japanese Navy. Fought over four days in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon, it is the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carry out organized kamikaze attacks and will come to be regarded as the largest naval battle of World War II.
1950		A reconnaissance platoon for a South Korean division reaches the Yalu River. They are the only elements of the U.N. force to reach the river before the Chinese offensive pushes the whole army down into South Korea.
1955		The Village Voice is first published, backed in part by Norman Mailer.
1955		Ngo Dinh Diem declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
1957		The Russian government announces that Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the nation’s most prominent military hero, has been relieved of his duties as Minister of Defense. Khrushchev accuses Zhukov as promoting his own “cult of personality” and sees him as a threat to his own popularity.
1958		The first New York – Paris transatlantic jet passenger service is inaugurated by Pan Am, while the first New York – London transatlantic jet passenger service is inaugurated by BOAC.
1967		Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and his wife Farah as Empress.
1970		Garry Trudeau’s comic strip Doonesbury first appears.
1979		The President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee, is asssasinated by Kim Jae-kyu, head of the country’s Central intelligence Agency; Choi Kyu-ha is named acting president.
1994		Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty.
2001		The USA PATRIOT Act is signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush, greatly expanding intelligence and legal agencies’ ability to utilize wiretaps, records searches and surveillance.
2002		Russian Spetsnaz storm the Moscow Theatre, where Chechen terrorists had taken the audience and performers hostage three days earlier; 50 terrorists and 150 hostages die in the assault.