TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – SEPT 19
1356 In a landmark battle of the Hundred Years’ War, English Prince Edward defeats the French at Poitiers.
1544 Francis, the king of France, and Charles V of Austria sign a peace treaty in Crespy, France, ending a 20-year war.
1692 Giles Corey is pressed to death for standing mute and refusing to answer charges of witchcraft brought against him. He is the only person in America to have suffered this punishment.
1783 The first hot-air balloon is sent aloft in Versailles, France with animal passengers including a sheep, rooster and a duck.
1819 John Keats wrote “Ode to Autumn.”
1870 Siege of Paris by Prussian Forces begins (lasts until January 28 1871)
1893 New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women the right to vote.
1900 President Emile Loubet of France pardons Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany.
1934 Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the Lindbergh baby kidnap-murder.
1957 First underground nuclear test takes place in Nevada.
1959 Nikita Khruschev was not allowed to visit Disneyland due to security reasons. Khrushchev reacted angrily.
1962 Gov. Ross Barnett blocked James Meredith from enrolling in the University of Mississippi.
1967 41 people have been killed in a soccer riot in the central city of Sivas after rioters from a rival town burned local stores and a hotel.
1982 The first documented emoticons, 🙂 and :-(, posted on Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System by Scott Fahlman.
1985 New York state joins many other states who will bar Insurance companies requiring people to undergo blood tests for Aids when applying for health or life insurance.
1985 Parents Music Resource Center formed by Tipper Gore (wife of then-Senator Al Gore) and other political wives lobby for Parental Advisory stickers on music packaging.
1994 U.S. troops entered Haiti to enforce the return of exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1995 The New York times and the Washington Post have published the Unabombers 35,000 word manifesto as in June he said he would kill again if they did not publish his manifesto, and the deadline is Sunday.
2002 President George W. Bush asked Congress for authority to “use all means,” including military force if necessary, to disarm and overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein if he did not quickly meet United Nations demands to abandon all weapons of mass destruction.
2006 A Military coup overthrows the elected government in Thailand
2010 Oil rig Deepwater Horizon is declared sealed after a 5-month long spill in the Gulf of Mexico
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
