TODAY IN HISTORY: Anne Frank dies
In 1883, the first steel arrived in Port Moody, B.C., for construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1903, the third session of the ninth Parliament opened; measures included authority for the Grand Trunk Railway to build a transcontinental line and putting a head tax of $500 on Chinese immigrants.
In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.
In 1930, First World War flying ace Billy Barker was killed in a plane crash in Ottawa. Barker shot down 53 enemy planes during the war and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his single-handed combat against some 60 German aircraft in October 1918.
In 1930, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 320-km march to the Indian ocean to protest a British tax on salt.
In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio “fireside chats,” telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
In 1933, the swastika became the official flag of Germany.
In 1938, Germany invaded Austria.
In 1945, Anne Frank, the Dutch Jewish teenager who kept a diary of her wartime experiences, died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. She was 15.
In 1951, the “Dennis the Menace” comic strip first appeared.
In 1964, Ontario Education Minister Bill Davis abolished the law segregating white and black schools.
In 1966, Chicago Blackhawks winger Bobby Hull became the first player in the NHL to score more than 50 goals in a season, getting his 51st goal against the New York Rangers. When he retired in 1980, his combined totals in the NHL and WHA made him the highest-scoring left wing in pro hockey history.
In 1969, “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel was named Song and Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, beating out “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney married American photographer Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London. Until Linda McCartney’s death from cancer in 1998, the couple spent just one night apart.
In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.
In 1985, three men stormed the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa, killing the embassy security guard. They occupied the embassy for four hours, holding hostage the wife and daughter of the ambassador and embassy staff, before surrendering to police. The attackers, who said they were members of the Armenian Revolutionary Army, told police they staged the attack “to make Turkey pay for the Armenian genocide” of 1915.
In 1987, Brian Orser of Penetanguishene, Ont., became the first Canadian since 1963 to win the men's world figure skating championships.
In 1987, the first custody trial to test a surrogate motherhood contract ended in New Jersey. The judge eventually awarded custody of “Baby M” to her biological father, William Stern, and his wife. Surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead had agreed to bear the child for $10,000 but later declined the money and attempted to keep the child.
In 1991, angry fishermen and fish-processing plant workers trashed the federal government offices in Port aux Basques, Nfld., after the winter fishing season closed early.
In 1995, former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari left Mexico for virtual exile in the U.S.
In 1997, Eaton's announced it planned to close or sell 31 of its 85 department stores across Canada as part of major restructuring.
In 2000, Conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar swept to victory in Spain's general election, crushing the opposition Socialists to capture a majority in parliament for the first time.
In 2008, New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation amid allegations he was a client of a high-priced prostitution ring.
In 2010, the Paralympic Games began in Vancouver with more than 1,300 athletes participating, including 55 Canadians, from 40 countries. (Canada finished with 19 medals, its best showing ever at a Winter Paralympics.)