TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1948

hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

1862

President Abraham Lincoln signed an act establishing the Department of Agriculture.

1930

Registered nurse Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland-to-chicago flight operated by Boeing Air Transport, a forerunner of United Airlines.

1942

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, whose members came to be known as WACS. Wartime gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 Eastern states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.

1963

Weight Watchers was incorporated in New York.

1968

Two days of tornado outbreaks began in 10 Midwestern and Southern states; twisters were blamed for 72 deaths, including 45 in Arkansas and 18 in Iowa.

1972

Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot and left paralyzed while campaigning for president in Laurel, Maryland, by Arthur H. Bremer, who served 35 years for attempted murder.

1975

U.S. forces invaded the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and captured the American merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized by the Khmer Rouge.

2000

By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a key provision of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, saying that rape victims could not sue their attackers in federal court.