Today in History

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a six year term as Nicaragua’s president.

In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.

President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran.

The country of Bangladesh is established.

A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon.

The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine.

The St. Lawrence Seaway–linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes–opens to shipping.

Elvis Presley‘s “Heartbreak Hotel” goes to number one on the charts.

The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the “double helix” of DNA.

After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on “Gloucester Hill,” in Korea.

U.S. and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.

A seeing eye dog is used for the first time.

Puccini’s opera Turandot premiers at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting.

General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.

Ella Fitzgerald, American singer.

Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey.

Ross Lockridge, Jr., novelist (Raintree Country).

Gladys L. Presley, mother of Elvis Presley.

Edward R. Murrow, war correspondent and newscaster.

The United States declares war on Spain.

Maud Hart Lovelace, children’s author.

French commander Henri Riviere seizes the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.

Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist, inventor of the radio.

Walter de la Mare, poet and novelist (Memoir of a Midget, Come Hither).

Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.

After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returns to Alexandria, Louisiana.

Admiral David Farragut occupies New Orleans, Louisiana.

Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.

Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.

At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portugese forces.

The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself.

Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England (1653-1658).

The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu.

Edward II, king of England (1307-1327).

Louis IX, king of France (1226-1270).