Today In History...
In 1789 William Herschel discovers Enceladus, a satellite of Saturn.
In 1839 A freak weather event takes place when a hurricane moves up the east coast and causes a snowstorm in the Catskill mountains.
In 1867 The U.S. occupies the Midway Islands in the Pacific.
In 1907 United Parcel Service (UPS) begins service in Seattle, Washington.
In 1916 Italy declares war against Germany during World War I.
In 1917 Ten suffragists are arrested as they picket the White House.
In 1922 WEAF in New York City airs the first radio commercial. The 10-minute advertisement was for the Queensboro Realty Company of Jackson Heights, which had paid a fee of $100 for 10 minutes of air time.
In 1957 Senator Thurmond begins his 24-hour filibuster against the civil rights bill.
In 1963 200,000 participate in a peaceful demonstration for equal rights in Washington, DC, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
In 1965 Cooper and Conrad complete 120 Earth orbits in Gemini V.
In 1968 Police and anti-war demonstrators clash in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominates Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
In 1973 More than 520 die when a strong earthquake shakes central Mexico.
In 1974 Soyuz 15 returns to Earth.
In 1974 "Chinatown" starring Jack Nicholson opens in theaters.
In 1978 Don Vesco set the motorcycle speed record at 318mph, riding a twin engine Kawasaki called "Lightning Bolt."
In 1981 John Hinckley Jr. pleads innocent to charges of attempting to kill President Reagan.
In 1981 "Body Heat" starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner opens in U.S. theaters.
In 1983 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin announces his resignation.
In 1984 Former Wall Street Journal reporter R. Foster Winans Jr. and two others were indicted in New York in an alleged stock fraud scheme based on insider trading.
In 1986 Retired Navy warrant officer Jerry A. Whitworth, convicted for his role in a Soviet spy ring, is sentenced by a federal judge in San Francisco to 365 years in prison.
In 1987 Fire damages the Arcadia, FL, home of Ricky, Robert and Randy Ray, three hemophiliac brothers infected with the AIDS virus whose court-ordered school attendance sparked a local uproar.
In 1987 Movie director John Huston dies at age 81.
In 1988 70 people are killed when three Italian stunt planes collide during an air show at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein, West Germany.
In 1989 TV evangelist Jim Bakker's fraud and conspiracy trial opens in Charlotte, NC.
In 1991 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev orders a shake-up of the KGB and his cabinet in the wake of the failed hard-liners' coup.
In 1992 The U.S. government begins two huge relief operations, rushing food and drinking water to hurricane-ravaged Florida while U.S. cargo planes land in Somalia with tons of food for African famine victims.
In 1994 A Drug Enforcement Administration plane crashes in the jungles of Peru, killing five U.S. agents.
In 1995 Chase Manhattan and Chemical Banking announce a $10 billion deal creating the biggest bank in the nation.
In 1995 A mortar shell tears through a crowded market in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, killing 38 people and triggering NATO airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs.
In 1996 The 15-year marriage of Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially ends with the issuing of a divorce decree.
In 1996 The Democratic National Convention nominates President Clinton for second term.
In 1997 After nearly a year of legal challenges, California's affirmative action ban becomes law.
In 1999 3 crewmen aboard the Mir space station return safely to Earth after bidding farewell to the 13-year-old Russian orbiter. The Russian government planned to abandon Mir, but then extended its mission.
In 2000 4 years after hooded military judges convict American Lori Berenson of planning a rebel attack, Peru's military overturns her life sentence and clears the way for a new civilian trial. (She was convicted last June of "terrorist collaboration" and received 20 years in prison.)
In 2001 Computer manufacturer Gateway lays off 4,700 employees, about 25 percent of its global work force.
In 2004 The U.S. men's basketball team wins the bronze, the 100th U.S. medal of the Athens Games.