From the ArcaMax Publishing, History & Quotes Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/quotes/s-569497-385101
In 1853, the U.S. Senate ratified the $10 million Gadsden Purchase
from Mexico, adding more than 29,000 square miles to the territories
of Arizona and New Mexico and completing the modern geographical
boundaries of the contiguous 48 states.
In 1933, Fatty Arbuckle, the silent film comedian and one of
Hollywood's most beloved personalities until a manslaughter charge
ruined his career, died while preparing a comeback. He was 46.
In 1941, Isabella Peron took office as president of Argentina,
succeeding her husband.
In 1946, two years before Israel became a nation, British authorities
arrested more than 2,700 Jewish Zionists in an effort to stop
terrorism in Palestine.
In 1970, the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cambodia into South
Vietnam.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment, as then
administered by individual states, was unconstitutional.
In 1991, the European Community announced $1.4 billion in aid for the
Soviet Union.
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the important aspects of
the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion but upheld most of
Pennsylvania's new restrictions on a woman's right to abortion.
Also in 1992, doctors in Pittsburgh reported the world's first
transplant of a baboon liver into a human patient. The recipient, a
35-year-old man, survived for three months.
And in 1992, the president of Algeria, Mohammed Boudiaf, was
assassinated during a speech.
In 1994, the Japanese Diet elected Tomiichi Murayama prime minister.
Also in 1994, in a taped interview aired on British TV, Prince Charles
admitted he had been unfaithful to his estranged wife, Princess Diana.
In 1995, the U.S. shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space
station Mir.
In 1999, a Turkish court convicted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah
Ocalan of treason and sentenced him to death.
In 2003, Hollywood legend Katherine Hepburn died at the age of 96
after a six-decade career in which she won a record four Oscars for
best actress.
In 2005, the Bush administration gave the new director of national
intelligence additional powers, including authority over operations by
the FBI and other agencies.
In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled U.S. President George Bush
didn't have authority, under military law or the Geneva Conventions,
to set up military tribunals for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed course and agreed to hear the
appeals of detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison on
Cuba.
Also in 2007, London police found an explosive device in a car in a
parking garage a few hours after a car bomb left outside a night club
was disarmed. The discoveries came almost two years after suicide
bombers killed 52 people and injured hundreds in London's public
transportation system.
And, the American bald eagle, declared endangered in 1967, is again
flourishing and no longer imperiled, the U.S. Interior Department
announced.
In 2008, incumbent President Robert Mugabe declared victory in
Zimbabwe's runoff election, a contest denounced by African observers
as "not credible." Mugabe was the only candidate left in the race
after his opponent pulled out for fear of further violence.