TODAY IN HISTORY

1935

A flying boat, the China Clipper, took off from Alameda, California, carrying more than 100,000pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.

1963

John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was shot to death during a motorcade in Dallas; Texas Gov. John B. Connally, riding in the same car as Kennedy, was seriously wounded. Suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president.

1990

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, having failed to win reelection to the Conservative Party leadership on the first ballot, announced she would resign.