TODAY IN history

On this date

In 1890, French president Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.

In 1906, the “S-O-S” distress signal was adopted at the second International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin, replacing the call sign “CDQ,” sometimes explained as ‘Come Damn Quick.’ The letters “SOS” is not an abbreviation or acronym but were selected because they are easy to transmit.

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was shot as he rode in a presidential motorcade in Dallas. He died minutes later in hospital and Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president. The Warren Commission was appointed to investigate Kennedy’s murder and concluded Kennedy was killed by a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald himself was shot and killed two days after the assassination by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, while being transferred between jails.

In 1973, in a TV address, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau asked Canadians to voluntarily restrict their consumption of fuels and predicted an energy rationing program at the retail level would not be needed if Canadians cooperated.

In 1986, Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick by a knockout in the second round to win the World Boxing Council’s heavyweight championship in Las Vegas. At age 20 years and five months, he was the youngest heavyweight champion in history.