Today in history

In 1842

Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield.

In 1880

the first cash register was patented by James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio.

In 1922

the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in Egypt.

In 1924

Nellie Ross, of Wyoming, became the first female governor after being elected to fill the unexpired term of her husband, William B. Ross.

In 1931

the League of Nations accused Japan of aggression in Manchuria.

In 1956

Soviet troops moved in to crush the Hungarian Revolution.

In 1962

President John Kennedy announced completion of a series of American nuclear tests in the Pacific.

In 1973

Edward Brooke, of Massachusetts, became the first Republican senator to call for the resignaton of President Richard Nixon.

In 2001

Hurricane Michelle roared across Cuba, forcing the government to shut down power for much of the communist island and evacuate 750,000 people.

In 2008

Barack Obama, of Illinois, was elected to the White House, defeating Republican Sen. John McCain to become the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American to hold that office.

In 2012

a 2-year-old boy standing on a railing fell and was mauled to death by African wild dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium.

In 2016

two former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were convicted of causing traffic jams for political revenge near the nation’s busiest bridge, a verdict that many experts said effectively ended the political career of the onetime presidential hopeful.