Today in history

In 1870 the U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

In 1893 Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera, “Falstaff,” was first performed in Milan, Italy.

In 1942 the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II. Also in 1942 Daylight-saving “War Time” went into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.

In 1943 the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces. In 1950 in a speech in Wheeling, W.Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.

In 1964 The Beatles made their first live American television appearance, on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

In 1971 the Apollo 14 spacecraft returned to Earth after man’s third landing on the moon.

In 1996 the Irish Republican Army ended its ceasefire with a truck bombing in London that killed two and injured 37. In 1997 Best Products closed the last of its stores, a victim of the diminishing allure of the catalog showroom concept of retailing.

In 2000 Boeing Co. engineers and technical workers began a 40-day strike.

In 2001 a U.S. Navy submarine collided with a Japanese fishing boat off the Hawaiian coast, killing nine men and boys aboard the boat.

In 2002 Britain’s Princess Margaret died in London; she was 71.

In 2004 anti-government rebels took control of nearly a dozen towns in western Haiti as the death toll in the violent uprising rose to at least 40.

In 2005 Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina was forced out by board members, ending her nearly six-year tenure. Also in 2005 a new postage stamp honoring President Ronald Reagan was issued.

In 2006 British entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker died in Hollywood, Fla.; he was 83.

In 2008 the shuttle Atlantis, carrying a Europeanbuilt science lab, docked with the International Space Station.

In 2012 federal and Illinois officials announced a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s top five mortgage servicers that promised assistance for a select group of 1.75 million borrowers while setting new standards for how struggling homeowners are treated.

In 2014 Missouri AllAmerican linebacker Michael Sam announced he was gay three months before the NFL draft. (The St. Louis Rams later drafted Sam in the seventh round, making him the first openly gay player in NFL history.)