TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1979

Technology firm Philips demonstrated a prototype compact disc player during a press conference in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1702

England’s Queen Anne acceded to the throne upon the death of King William III.

1862

During the Civil War, the ironclad CSS Virginia rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and heavily damaged the USS Congress, both frigates, off Newport News, Virginia.

1948

The Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.

1960

Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon won the New Hampshire presidential primary.

1965

The United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

1983

In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Florida, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

1999

Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 84.

2000

President Bill Clinton submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with China.

2008

President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.