TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 28
1612 First observation of Neptune – Galileo observes and records a “fixed star” without realising it is a planet
1688 William of Orange makes a triumphant march into London as James II flees.
1732 “The Pennsylvania Gazette,” owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of “Poor Richard’s Almanack.”
1832 John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.
1836 Spain recognizes independence of Mexico
1846 Iowa is admitted as the 29th State of the Union.
1860 Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
1869 William F. Semple patented chewing gum.
1872 A U.S. Army force defeats a group of Apache warriors at Salt River Canyon, Arizona Territory, with 57 Indians killed but only one soldier.
1877 John Stevens applied for a patent for his flour-rolling mill, which boosted production by 70%.
1900 In a famous case a Mrs. Lulu Jenkins of Chicago would be paid $4,000 in compensation for the lynching of her husband in Ripley County. Mr. Jenkins allegedly had a part in stealing a horse and was the victim of an angry mob.
1904 Farmers in Georgia burn two million bales of cotton to prop up falling prices.
1920 The United States resumes the deportation of communists and suspected communists.
1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt states, “The definite policy of the United States, from now on, is one opposed to armed intervention.”
1945 Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.
1948 Premier Nokrashy Pasha of Egypt is assassinated by a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood because of his failure to achieve victory in the war against Israel.
1951 The United States pays $120,000 to free four fliers convicted of espionage in Hungary.
1965 The United States bars oil sales to Rhodesia.
1968 Israel attacks an airport in Beirut, destroying 13 planes.
1971 The U.S. Justice Department sues Mississippi officials for ignoring the voting ballots of blacks in that state
1972 Kim il Sung becomes first president of North Korea
1973 Endangered Species Act of 1973 President Nixon signs the “Endangered Species Act” to protect species and also “the ecosystems upon which they depend.” It encompasses plants and invertebrates as well as vertebrates.
1981 Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.
1982 Nevell Johnson Jr. was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade. The event set off three days of race related disturbances that left another man dead.
1995 Pressure from German prosecutors investigating pornography forced CompuServe to set a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups on the Internet for its customers.
2000 U.S. District Court Judge Matsch held a hearing to ensure that confessed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh understood that he was dropping his appeals. McVeigh said that he wanted an execution date, set but wanted to reserve the right to seek presidential clemency.
2005 A U.S. immigration judge ordered retired auto worker John Demjanjuk, accused of being the Nazi concentration camp guard “Ivan the Terrible,” a notorious SS guard at the Treblinka extermination camp who committed acts of extraordinarily savage violence and murder against camp prisoners. to be deported to his native Ukraine where he was tried convicted and sentenced to death for war crimes.
2006 Alexander V. Litvinenko, who had formerly been a KGB agent, was poisoned with a radioactive substance and died in a London hospital.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
