Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On June 16, 1996, Russian voters went to the polls in their first independent presidential election; the result was a runoff between President Boris Yeltsin, the eventual winner, and Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov.
On this date:
1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland. She escaped almost a year later but ended up imprisoned again.
1858: Accepting the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the
U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
1883: Baseball’s first “Ladies’ Day” took place as the New York Gothams offered women free admission to a game against the Cleveland Spiders. New York won, 5-2.
1903: Ford Motor Co. was incorporated.
1911: IBM had its beginnings as the Computing-tabulatingrecording Co. which was incorporated in New York State.
1932: President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis were renominated at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.
1933: The National Industrial Recovery Act became law with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signature. The Act was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was founded as President Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933.
1963: The world’s first female space traveler, Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union aboard Vostok 6; Tereshkova spent 71 hours in flight, circling the Earth 48 times before returning safely.
1970: Kenneth A. Gibson of Newark, N.J., became the first black politician elected mayor of a major Northeast city. Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, 26, died at a New York hospital after battling cancer.
1978: President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos signed the instruments of ratification for the Panama Canal treaties during a ceremony in Panama City.
1987: A jury in New York acquitted Bernhard Goetz of attempted murder in the subway shooting of four youths he said were going to rob him; however, Goetz was convicted of illegal weapons possession. In 1996: A civil jury ordered Goetz to pay $43 million to one of the persons he had shot.
Ten years ago: After meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, BP Chairman Carl-henric
Svanberg announced the oil giant was establishing a $20 billion claim fund and suspending dividends as he insisted, “We care about the small people.”
Five years ago: Real estate mogul Donald Trump launched his successful campaign to become president of the United States with a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
One year ago: A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in what Argentina’s president called an “unprecedented” failure in the countries’ power grid; most people had their power back on by evening.