TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1837

Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.

1782

Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.

1893

A jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

1921

U.S. Rep. Alice Mary Robertson, R-Okla., became the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives.

1943

Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.

1967

Boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison..

1972

Three days after the arrest of the Watergate burglars, President Richard Nixon met at the White House with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman; the secretly made tape recording of this meeting ended up with the notorious 18{-minute gap.

1974

The film noir “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, was released by Paramount Pictures.

1979

ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza’s national guard.

1990

South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city U.S. tour.