Today in history 6/29/2020

Today in history, Ferdinand III (see picture below) of Castile and Leon take Cordoba in Spain in 1236.

Today in history, Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth in 1652.

Today in history, France annexes Tahiti in 1880.

Today in history, The Ukraine proclaims independence from Russia in 1917.

Today in history, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and Olympic National Park, Washington, are founded in 1938.

Today in history, President Harry S. Truman (see picture below) authorizes a sea blockade of Korea in 1950.

Today in history, Israel removes barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem in 1967.

Today in history 6/10/2020

Today in history, The Continental Congress appoints a committee to write a Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Today in history, Tripoli declares war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute in 1801.

Today in history, The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, holds its first graduation in 1854.

Today in history, Dorothea Dix is appointed superintendent of female nurses for the Union army in 1861.

Today in history, Japan and Russia agree to peace talks brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt (see picture below) in 1905.

Today in history, The Republican convention in Chicago endorses women’s suffrage in 1920.

Today in history, The U.S. VII and V corps, advancing from Normandy’s beaches, link up and begin moving inland in 1944.

Today in history, The news that the sound barrier has been broken is finally released to the public by the U.S. Air Force. Chuck Yeager (see picture below), piloting the rocket airplane X-1, exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947 in 1948.

Today in history, Serb forces begin their withdrawal from Kosovo after signing an agreement with the NATO powers in 1999.

Today in history 5/16/2020

Today in history, Marie Antoinette marries future King Louis XVI of France in 1770.

Today in history, The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England sets up the Afghan state in 1879.

Today in history, Joan of Arc (see picture below) is canonized in Rome in 1920.

Today in history, The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood in 1928.

Today in history, A specially trained and equipped Royal Air Force squadron destroys two river dams in Germany in 1943.

Today in history, Chinese Communist Forces launch second phase of the Chinese Spring Offensive in the Korean War and gain up to 20 miles of territory in 1951.

Today in history, After 22 Earth orbits, Gordon Cooper (see picture below) returns to Earth, ending the last mission of Project Mercury in 1963.

Today in history 4/16/2020

Today in history, Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope in 556.

Today in history, The Norman Robert Guiscard takes Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy in 1065.

Today in history, Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton in 1705.

Today in history, San Salvador is destroyed by an earthquake in 1854.

Today in history, Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia in 1862.

Today in history, Vladimir Lenin (see picture below) returns to Russia to start the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

Today in history, Annie Oakley (see picture below) shoots 100 clay targets in a row, setting a woman’s record in 1922.

Today in history, The Island of Malta is awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack. It was the first such award given to any part of the British Commonwealth in 1942.

Today in history, A lens which provides zoom effects is demonstrated in New York City in 1947.

Today in history, Two giants pandas arrive in the U.S. from China in 1972.

Today in history 3/31/2020

Today in history, Abigail Adams (see picture below) writes to husband John that women are “determined to foment a rebellion” if the new Declaration of Independence fails to guarantee their rights in 1776.

Today in history, Russia and Turkey sign a treaty by which they promise to take no military action in the Crimea in 1779.

Today in history, The first monthly installment of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (see picture below) is published in London in 1836.

Today in history, The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opens on the Left Bank as part of the Exhibition of 1889.

Today in history, Daylight Savings Time goes into effect throughout the United States for the first time in 1918.

Today in history, President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1967.

Today in history, President Jimmy Carter deregulates the banking industry in 1980.