Today in history

1746

Princeton University was first chartered as the College of New Jersey.

1797

French balloonist AndreJacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.

1836

Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas.

1928

Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the “American system of rugged individualism” in a speech at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

1934

Bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot to death by federal agents and local police at a farm near East Liverpool, Ohio.

1953

The Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association effectively made Laos an independent member of the French Union.

1962

In a nationally broadcast address, President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet-built missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the Communist island nation.

1979

The U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment _ a decision that precipitated the Iran hostage crisis. French conductor and music teacher Nadia Boulanger died in Paris.

1981

The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.

1986

President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation. Jane Dornacker, 39, a traffic reporter for New York radio station WNBC-AM, was killed when the helicopter she was riding in plunged into the Hudson River during a live report (pilot William Pate was badly injured, but survived).

1991

The European Community and the European Free Trade Association concluded a landmark accord to create a free trade zone of 19 nations by 1993.