Today in History

The Environmental Protection Agency orders a ban on the pesticide EDB for grain products.

OPEC decides to set oil prices without consulting buyers.

Soviet Luna 9 achieves soft landing on the moon.

President John F. Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba.

Millions greet Queen Elizabeth in Sydney on her first royal trip to Australia.

The month-long Battle of Manila begins.

The United States shells the Japanese homeland for the first time at Kurile Islands.

Finland begins talks with the Soviet Union.

President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission to regulate the airwaves.

The Allies demand that 890 German military leaders stand trial for war crimes.

A German submarine sinks the U.S. liner Housatonic off coast of Sicily. The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.

New U.S. football rules are set: field shortened to 100 yds.; touchdown counts six points instead of five; four downs are allowed instead of three; and the kickoff is moved from midfield to the 40 yd. line.

Simone Weil, philosopher, member of the French resistance in WWII.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that union-sponsored boycotts are illegal, and applies the Sherman Antitrust Act to labor as well as capital.

James A. Michener, novelist (Tales of the South Pacific).

Colombian troops clash with U.S. Marines in Panama.

Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect.

Norman Rockwell, artist and illustrator who painted scenes of small-town America. Most of his work appeared in the The Saturday Evening Post.

Gertrude Stein, poet and novelist (Three Lives, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas).

Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman to get an MD from a U.S. medical school.

Horace Greely, founder of the New York Tribune and abolitionist.

Felix Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream).

Spain recognizes United States’ independence.

The first paper money in America is issued in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Mongols take over Vladimir, Russia.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa hurtles prisoners, including children, at the Italian city of Crema, forcing its surrender.