Today in History

Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

Archaeologists unearth an army of 8,000 life-size clay figures created more than 2,000 years ago for the Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

American forces break the 95-day siege at An Loc in Vietnam.

In the RAF’s longest bombing raid of World War II, 44 British Lancaster bombers attack the Polish port of Danzig.

Theodore H. Maiman, physicist.

E.B. White, author (Charlotte’s Web).

President Abraham Lincoln appoints General Henry Halleck as general-in-chief of the Federal army.

John Wanamaker, U.S. merchant, founder of one of the first American department stores.

Alexander Hamilton is mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel.

An Anglo-Turkish armada bombards Napoleon Bonaparte‘s troops in Alexandria to no avail.

Morocco agrees to stop attacking American ships in the Mediterranean for a payment of $10,000.

John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States (1825-1829).

The French are defeated at Oudenarde, Malplaquet, in the Netherlands by the Duke of Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy.

Henry VIII is excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.

Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany.

An army of French knights, led by the Count of Artois, is routed by Flemish pikemen.

Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (1306-1329).