Today in History

Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world’s tallest high-rise.

Rehavam Ze’evi, Israeli tourism minister and founder of the right-wing Moledet party, assassinated by a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); he was the first Israeli minister ever assassinated.

Dmitry Kholodov, a Russian journalist, assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces; his murkier began a series of killings of journalists in Russia.

The worst earthquake in 82 years strikes San Francisco bay area minutes before the start of a World Series game there. The earthquake registers 6.9 on the Richter scale–67 are killed and damage is estimated at $10 billion.

Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam.

Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician, leader of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; oldest son of reggae great Bob Marley.

Rob Marshall, theater and film director, choreographer; awards include 4 Emmys and an Academy Award for Best Picture (Chicago, 2002).

Alan Jackson, country singer with over 60 million records sold worldwide; his many awards include 2 Grammys and 16 Country Music Association awards; “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning”; “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.”

The nuclear power station Calder Hall is opened in Britain. Calder Hall is the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network.

Margo Kidder, actress; best known for playing Lois Lane in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987.

Adam Michnik, Polish historian and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wybocza, Poland’s largest newspaper; named Europe’s Man of the Year by La Vie magazine (1989).

Gary Puckett, singer, songwriter; lead singer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (“Woman, Woman”; “Young Girl”).

The U.S. destroyer Kearney is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 Americans are killed.

Evel Knievel, U.S. daredevil motorcycle stunt man.

Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler’s Germany, Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.

Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author and columnist.

Rita Hayworth, film actress.

Arthur Miller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge).

Zeppelin LII explodes southeast of central Berlin, killing 28.

Nathaneal West, novelist and screenwriter (Miss Lonely Hearts, The Day of the Locust).

Doris Humphrey, modern dance choreographer.

Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians’ return to the United States.

General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West.

Childe Hassam, American impressionist painter and illustrator.

Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39.

Alexander Gardner, American photographer who documented the Civil War and the West.

Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.

British Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men at Saratoga, N.Y.

Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts.

Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage.

English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville’s Cross, Scotland.

The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza.