TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1974

President Richard Nixon, facing damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, announced he would resign the following day.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1814

During the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.

1937

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan completed its occupation of Beijing.

1942

During World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who cooperated with authorities were spared.

1945

President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

1963

Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

1973

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ended up doing.

1994

Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.

2000

The wreckage of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which sank in 1864 after attacking the Union ship Housatonic, was recovered off the South Carolina coast and returned to port.

2003

The Boston Roman Catholic archdiocese offered $55 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits stemming from alleged sex abuse by priests. (The archdiocese later settled for $85 million.)