On this date

1533 — England’s King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who later gave birth to Elizabeth I. 1890 — Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completed a roundthe-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio. 1915 — America’s first official transcontinental telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, spoke to his former assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph. 1924 — The first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix (shah-moh-NEE’), France. 1945 — The World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions. Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply. 1955 — The Soviet Union formally ended its state of war with Germany. 1961 — President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television. 1971 — Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Idi Amin seized power in Uganda by ousting President Milton Obote (oh-BOH’-tay) in a military coup. 1981 — The 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States. 1990 — An Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, Long Island, New York; 73 of the 158 people aboard were killed. Actress Ava Gardner died in London at age 67. 1993 — A gunman shot and killed two CIA employees outside agency headquarters in Virginia (Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kansi was later tried and convicted of the shootings, and executed). Sears announced that it would no longer publish its famous century-old catalog. 1998 — Pope John Paul II ended his historic journey to Cuba.

Thought for today ‘Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but wants only to be provoked. Katherine Anne Porter American author (1894-1980)