Today in History

Two giants pandas arrive in the U.S. from China.

The Pentagon announces the “Vietnamization” of the war.

Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), professional basketball player.

American troops enter Nuremberg, Germany.

The Island of Malta is awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack. It was the first such award given to any part of the British Commonwealth.

Henry Mancini, composer and conductor (“Moon River”).

Kingsley Amis, British author (Lucky Jim).

Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer.

Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia to start the Bolshevik Revolution.

Charlie Chaplin, film actor and director.

John Millington Synge, dramatist and poet (Playboy of the Western World).

Wilbur Wright, designer, builder and flyer of the first airplane.

Flora Batson, African-American soprano-baritone singer.

Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia.

San Salvador is destroyed by an earthquake.

Thomas Sidney Gilchrist, British metallurgist and inventor.

Anatole France, French writer.

The U.S. Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.

George Charles Bingham, British soldier, commanded the Light Brigade during the famous charge.

Sir John Franklin, arctic explorer.

Prince Charles is defeated at the Battle of Culloden, the last pitched battle fought in Britain.

Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist.

Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton.

Hans Sloane, physician, naturalist, founder of the British Museum.

The Norman Robert Guiscard takes Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.

Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

Defeated by Vitellius’ troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.