TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1944

U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1475

Italian artist and poet Michelangelo was born in Caprese in the Republic of Florence.

1834

The city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto.

1836

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell as Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna stormed the fortress after a 13-day siege; the battle claimed the lives of all the Texan defenders, nearly 200strong, including William Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett.

1857

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Dred Scott v. Sandford, ruled 7-2that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and therefore could not sue for his freedom in federal court.

1933

A national bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed at calming panicked depositors went into effect. Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, wounded in an attempt on Roosevelt’s life the previous month, died at a Miami hospital at age 59.

1935

Retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., died in Washington two days before his 94th birthday.

1964

Heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

1970

A bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members.

1981

Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”