From the ArcaMax Publishing, History & Quotes Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/quotes/s-67021-243953
In 1788, Maryland ratified the Constitution, becoming the seventh
state of the Union.
In 1789, the most famous of all naval mutinies took place aboard the
HMS Bounty en route from Tahiti to Jamaica.
In 1945, fascist leader Benito Mussolini, his mistress and several of
his friends were executed by Italian partisans.
In 1975, the last U.S. civilians were evacuated from South Vietnam as
North Vietnamese forces tightened their noose around Saigon.
In 1986, the Soviet Union announced the Chernobyl nuclear reactor fire
had killed two people, with 197 hospitalized. Nine months later, it
reported 31 had died and 231 suffered radiation sickness.
In 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 lost an 18-foot chunk of
fuselage at 24,000 feet between Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii, killing a
flight attendant. The pilot landed on Maui with the remaining 94
passengers and crew, 61 of them injured.
In 1993, U.S. Defense Secretary Les Aspin opened combat aircraft to
military service women and sought a change in the law to allow women
to serve on naval combat vessels.
Also in 1993, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said she ordered the
ill-fated end to Waco, Texas, standoff after being convinced David
Koresh would never give up voluntarily and that mass suicide was
unlikely.
In 1994, the Navy expelled 24 midshipmen from the U.S Naval Academy in
what was said to be the biggest cheating scandal in Annapolis history.
Also in 1994, former CIA officer Aldrich Ames pleaded guilty to spying
for the Soviet Union.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton testified via videotape as a defense
witness in the Whitewater trial.
Also in 1996, a rampage by a gunman in Port Arthur, Tasmania,
Australia, killed 35 people.
In 1997, separatists holed up inside their "embassy" near Fort Davis,
Texas, released their two hostages.
In 2000, 17 U.S. states joined with the federal government in asking a
federal judge in the Microsoft anti-trust case to break the company
into two parts.
In 2001, California businessman Dennis Tito became the first tourist
in space. He reportedly paid Russia's cash-strapped space agency as
much as $20 million to give him a ride to the International Space
Station.
In 2003, Iraqis said 15 people were killed and about 65 wounded when
U.S. soldiers opened fire on a group holding an anti-America rally.
U.S. officials said the soldiers were responding to gunfire.
Also in 2003, the SARS outbreak in Beijing escalated rapidly during
April with the number of cases reaching 1,199 by month's end.
In 2004, about 100 people were killed when armed insurgents stormed
several police stations in southern Thailand.
In 2005, the U.S. Congress approved a $2.56 trillion federal budget
for 2006.
Also in 2005, a Shiite-led Cabinet was approved by Iraq's National
Assembly for its first freely elected government.
And, the Japanese train wreck death toll hit 106. An express train
derailed and smashed into an apartment near Osaka.