On this date
In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated. In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French prevailed in the end, after 10 months of fighting; casualty estimates for both sides range from more than 714,000 to nearly 1 million.
In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men.
In 1958, the USS Gudgeon (SS-567) became the first American submarine to complete a round-the-world cruise, eight months after departing from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
In 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.)
In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 21⁄2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate coverup. (Each ended up serving a year and a half.)
In 1986, Larry Wu-tai Chin, the first American found guilty of spying for China, killed himself in his Virginia jail cell. Ten years ago:
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his country would withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming months; Denmark, meanwhile, said it would withdraw its 460 troops. Five years ago: The 17-nation eurozone approved a $170 billion bailout for Greece. One year ago: Pope Francis, speaking at the Vatican, urged Catholic leaders to show “exemplary” courage by not allowing executions “in this Holy Year of Mercy.”