TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1998

Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in Sacramento, California, to being the Unabomber responsible for three deaths and 29injuries in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

ALSO ON TODAY’S DATE 1498

During his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the present-day Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

1901

Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.

1944

During World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.

1953

The Arthur Miller drama “The Crucible,” set during the Salem witch trials, opened on Broadway.

1970

The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York and ended in London some 6 1⁄2 hours later.

1973

The U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalized abortions using a trimester approach. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at his Texas ranch at age 64.

1987

Pennsylvania treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, convicted of defrauding the state, proclaimed his innocence at a news conference before pulling out a gun, placing the barrel in his mouth and shooting himself to death in front of horrified onlookers.

1994

Actor Telly Savalas died in Universal City, California, a day after turning 72.

1995

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.