TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1986

The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1911

The notorious Hope Diamond was sold by jeweler Pierre Cartier to socialites Edward and Evalyn McLean of Washington, D.C., for $180,000.

1916

Louis D. Brandeis was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court; Brandeis became the court’s first Jewish member.

1939

Irish poet-dramatist William Butler Yeats died in Menton, France.

1956

Elvis Presley made his first national TV appearance on “Stage Show,” a CBS program hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

1973

A cease-fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War, a day after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords by the United States, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

1977

Actor-comedian Freddie Prinze, 22, co-star of the NBC-TV show “Chico and the Man,” shot and mortally wounded himself at the Beverly Comstock Hotel (he died the following day).

1980

Six U.S. diplomats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.

1982

Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brig. Gen. James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.

1985

The charity supergroup USA for Africa recorded the Michael Jackson-Lionel Richie song “We Are the World.”