Today in History
1805 1st recorded tornado in “Tornado Alley” (Southern Illinois)
1876 Bananas become popular in US, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
1873 Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania
1888 US Democrats nominate Grover Cleveland for president
1933 US drops the Gold Standard when Congress enacts a joint resolution nullifying creditors right to demand payment in gold
1937 Henry Ford initiates a 32 hour work week
1940 A synthetic rubber tire exhibited in Akron, Ohio by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
1944 As part of Operation Tonga, the 1st British gliders touch down on French soil to prepare for the D-Day invasion
1944 After receiving favorable weather reports, General Eisenhower decides to proceed with the D-Day invasion on June 6
1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe
1951 Anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in serial form in “The National Era”
1963 State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
1967 Six-day war begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three times, who dies the next day and wounds 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California
1975 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat reopens Suez Canal (closed since 1967)
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles
1981 World’s first today in history program with editable data “TODAY”, invented by Michael Butler runs for the first time on a mainframe computer
1984 Indira Gandhi orders an attack on Sikh’s holiest site, the Golden Temple in Amritsar
2001 U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party, an act which shifts control of the United States Senate from the Republicans to the Democratic Party
2013 The first article based on NSA leaked documents by Edward Snowden is published by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK
2018 Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in court in New York
2018 Miss America pageant announces an end to its swimsuit competition
2019 Average person ingests 50,000 pieces of microplastic a year and breathes in similar amount according to first-ever such study published in journal “Environmental Science and Technology”
Movies & TV
1987 “Nightline” presents its 1st “Town Meeting” the subject is AIDS & the show runs until 3:47 AM
1998 “The Truman Show”, starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, and Ed Harris, is released
2018 “Ocean’s 8” film premieres, directed by Gary Ross starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna
Music
1948 “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend” single released by Stan Jones
1964 Davie Jones & King Bees debut “I Can’t Help Thinking About Me”; group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie
1965 “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & Pharaohs hits #2
1981 George Harrison releases “Somewhere in England”
1989 Paul McCartney releases “Flowers in the Dirt”
Sports
1952 Jersey Joe Walcott beats Ezzard Charles in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1955 NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits 550-ft. homerun off Chicago’s Billy Pierce
1982 French Open Women’s Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats American teenager Andrea Jaeger 7-6, 6-1 for her first French singles crown
2018 American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. named 2017 top earning sportsperson by Forbes with $285 million
Birthdays
1953 Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park) President of Lucasfilm (2012-), born in Berkeley, California
1956 Kenny G, saxophonist (Duotones)
1959 Michael Winans, gospel singer (Winans)
1971 Mark Wahlberg, rap singer (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and actor (Boogie Nights, The Departed), born in Boston, Massachusetts
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