Today in History in 1776 the U.S. Declaration of Independence formal signing was held by 56 people; in 1865 “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll was published; and in 1943 Lt. John F. Kennedy’s PT-Boat 109 sank at the Solomon Islands.
Our On This Day in history archives contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:
Historical Events
1610 - Henry Hudson enters bay later named after him, the Hudson Bay
1776 - Formal signing of the US Declaration of Independence by 56 people
1782 - George Washington creates Honorary Badge of Distinction
1790 - 1st US census (population of 3,939,214; 697,624 are slaves) is conducted.
1865 - Lewis Carroll publishes "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
1909 - Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers
1932 - Carl David Anderson discovers and photographs a positron (positive electron), the first known antiparticle
1934 - Adolf Hitler becomes commander-in-chief of German armed forces
1943 - Lt John F Kennedy's PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon islands
1967 - "In the Heat of the Night" directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger premieres in New York (Best Picture 1968)
1973 - "American Graffiti" directed by George Lucas and starring Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard premieres at the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
2008 - "Breaking Dawn", 4th book in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga" is published by Little Brown at midnight with a print run of 3.7 million copies
Famous Birthdays
1754 - Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Anet France, architect laid out Washington DC, (d. 1825)
1820 - John Tyndall, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow Ireland, Irish physicist who demonstrated why the sky is blue and proved that the Earth's atmosphere has a greenhouse effect
1905 - Myrna Loy, Helena Mont, actress (Jazz Singer, Thin Man, Vanity Fair), (d. 1993)
1924 - James Baldwin, New York, author (Go Tell it on Mountain, Another Country), (d. 1987)
1926 - Betsy Bloomingdale, department store mogul
1945 - Joanna Cassidy [Joanna Virginia Caskey], Haddonfield, New Jersey, American actress (Blade Runner, Under Fire)
Famous Weddings
1882 - Education pioneer Booker T. Washington (26) weds Fanny Smith
1904 - Novelist Hermann Hesse (27) weds Maria Bernoulli
1930 - Laurence McKinley Gould (33), American Geologist and Polar Explorer weds Margaret ("Peg") Rice in Ann Arbor, Michigan
1968 - Later President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (21) weds lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo (22)
1970 - Songwriter Sammy Cahn marries Tita Curtis in Calif
1978 - Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young (32) weds Pegi Morton
1982 - "Dangerous Liaisons" actor John Malkovich (28) weds film and stage actress Glenne Headly (27)
1997 - "Frazier" actor-comedian Kelsey Grammer (43) weds Playboy model Camille Donatacci (29) at Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu
FamousDeaths
1859 - Horace Mann, American education advocate, dies at 63
1876 - Wild Bill Hickok, shot dead (from behind) by Jack McCall while playing poker. He held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8's
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor (telephone), dies at 75
1923 - Warren Harding, 29th President on the U.S. (1921-23), dies at Palace Hotel SF at 57
1978 - Totie Fields, [Sophie Feldman], comedienne, dies at about 48
1998 - Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b. 1933)
2001 - Ron Townson, American singer (The Fifth Dimension) (b. 1933)
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