Today in History

79		The city of Pompeii is buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
1512		Michelangelo’s painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling is exhibited for the first time.
1582		Maurice of Nassau, the son of William of Orange, becomes the governor of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht.
1755		A great earthquake at Lisbon, Portugal, kills over 50,000 people.
1765		The Stamp Act goes into effect in the British colonies.
1861		Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, 50 year-veteran and leader of the U.S. Army at the onset of the Civil War, retires. General George McClellan is appointed general-in-chief of the Union armies.
1866		Wild woman of the west Myra Maybelle Shirley (Belle Starr) marries James C. Reed in Collins County, Texas.
1869		Louis Riel seizes Fort Garry, Winnipeg, during the Red River Rebellion.
1911		Italian planes perform the first aerial bombing on Tagiura (Tajura) oasis in Libya.
1923		The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company buys the rights to manufacture Zeppelin dirigibles.
1924		Legendary Oklahoma marshal Bill Tilghman, 71, is gunned down by a drunk in Cromwell, Oklahoma.
1936		Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini announces the Rome-Berlin axis after Count Ciano’s visit to Germany.
1936		The Rodeo Cowboys Association is founded.
1943		American troops invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
1945		John H. Johnson publishes the first issue of Ebony magazine.
1950		Two members of a Puerto Rican nationalist movement attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman.
1951		The Algerian National Liberation Front begins guerrilla warfare against the French.
1967		The first issue of Rolling Stone hits the streets.
1968		President Lyndon B. Johnson calls a halt to bombing in Vietnam, hoping this will lead to progress at the Paris peace talks.
1968		The Motion Picture Association of America officially introduces its rating system to indicate age-appropriateness of film content.
1973		Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special  Prosecutor.
1981		Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
1982		Honda opens a plant in Marysville, Ohio, becoming the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the US.
2000		Serbia joins the United Nations.