Today in History

The space shuttle Challenger explodes just after liftoff.

Israeli fighter jets attack the suburbs of Cairo.

The Soviets down a U.S. jet over East Germany killing three.

The U.S. Congress passes a bill allowing mobilization of troops if China should attack Taiwan.

Chiang Kai-shek renames the Ledo-Burma Road the Stilwell Road, in honor of General Joseph Stilwell.

French General Charles DeGaulle‘s Free French forces sack south Libya oasis.

A fellow prison inmate slashes infamous kidnapper, Richard Loeb, to death.

The Japanese attack Shanghai, China, and declare martial law.

Albert Einstein startles Berlin by suggesting the possibility of measuring the universe.

The German navy attacks the U.S. freighter William P. Frye, loaded with wheat for Britain.

Jackson Pollock, influential abstract expressionist painter.

Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the French army in Paris surrenders. During the siege, balloons were used to keep contact with the outside world.

Jose Marti, Cuban poet and journalist, known as the “Apostle of the Cuban Revolution.”

Rebellious slaves in Santo Domingo launch an attack on the city of Cap.

Ahmed Shah, the first King of Afghanistan, occupies Delhi and annexes the Punjab.

John Baskerville, inventor of the “hot-pressing” method of printing.

Anna “Ivanovna”, Tsarina of Russia.

Henry VIII of England dies and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI.

The Roman Emperor Nerva names Trajan, an army general, as his successor.