Today in History

1836 - Sam Houston is inaugurated as 1st elected President of Republic of Texas.

1938 - American patent attorney and amateur inventor Chester Carlson invent the photocopier.

1947 - India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir.

1962 - President John F. Kennedy announces a blockade of Cuba.

1975 - Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus. 1992 - Rafik Al Hariri is appointed as Lebanese prime minister.

1996 - A cargo plane bursts into flames after takeoff in Manta, Ecuador, and slams into a church bell tower, killing at least 30 people.

2006 - Choi Kyu-hah, former president of South Korea, dies of heart failure.

2011 - Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz dies of cancer in New York.