Today in History

1776
Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston.
1781
Maryland ratifies the Articles of Confederation. She is the last state to sign.
1797
The Directory of Great Britain authorizes vessels of war to board and seize neutral vessels, particularly if the ships are American.
1815
To put an end to robberies by the Barbary pirates, the United States declares war on Algiers.
1836
Texas declares independence from Mexico on Sam Houston's 43rd birthday.
1853
The Territory of Washington is organized.
1865
President Abraham Lincoln rejects Confederate General Robert E. Lee's plea for peace talks, demanding unconditional surrender.
1867
The first Reconstruction Act is passed by Congress.
1877
Rutherford B. Hayes is declared president by one vote the day before the inauguration.
1889
Congress passes the Indian Appropriations Bill, proclaiming unassigned lands in the public domain; the first step toward the famous Oklahoma Land Rush.
1896
Bone Mizell, the famed cowboy of Florida, is sentenced to two years of hard labor in the state pen for cattle rustling. He would only serve a small portion of the sentence.
1901
Congress passes the Platt amendment, which limits Cuban autonomy as a condition for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
1908
An international conference on arms reduction opens in London.
1908
Gabriel Lippman introduces the new three-dimensional color photography at the Academy of Sciences.
1917
Congress passes the Jones Act making Puerto Rico a territory of the United States and makes the inhabitants U.S. citizens.

1923
In Italy, Mussolini admits that women have a right to vote, but declares that the time is not right.
1930
Novelist D.H. Lawrence dies of tuberculosis in a sanitarium in Vence, France, at the age of 45.
1943
The center of Berlin is bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs are dropped in a half hour.
1945
MacArthur raises the U.S. flag on Corregidor in the Philippines.
1946
Ho Chi Minh is elected president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1951
The U.S. Navy launches the K-1, the first modern submarine designed to hunt enemy submarines.
1955
Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks' famous arrest for the same offense.
1956
France grants independence to Morocco.
1965
More than 150 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes bomb two bases in North Vietnam in the first of the "Rolling Thunder" raids.
1968
The siege of Khe Sanh ends in Vietnam, the U.S. Marines stationed there are still in control of the mountain top.

1973
Federal forces surround Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which is occupied by members of the militant American Indian Movement who are holding at least 10 hostages.
1974
A grand jury in Washington, D.C. concludes that President Nixon was indeed involved in the Watergate cover-up.
1978
Czech pilot Vladimir Remek becomes the first non-Russian, non-American in space.
1981
The United States plans to send 20 more advisors and $25 million in military aid to El Salvador.

Joke of the Day

A man lay sprawled across three entire seats in a theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the man, "Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat." The man groaned but didn't budge. The usher became impatient.

"Sir," the usher said, "if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager."

Again, the man just groaned, which infuriated the usher who turned and marched briskly back up the aisle in search of his manager. In a few moments, both the usher and the manager returned and stood over the man. Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move him, but with no success. Finally, they summoned the police.

The cop surveyed the situation briefly then asked, "All right buddy, what's your name?" "Sam," the man moaned. "Where ya from, Sam?" the cop asked.

And with pain in his voice, Sam replied, "The balcony."