TODAY IN HISTORY

1883: The United States and Canada adopted a system of Standard Time zones.

1936: Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1963: The Bell System introduced the first commercial touch-tone telephone system in Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

1966: U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.

1976: Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1978: U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan of California and four others were killed on an airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide resulting in the deaths of more than 900 cult members.

1985: the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” created by Bill Watterson, was first published. (The strip ran for 10 years.)

1987: The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides. A fire at London King’s Cross railway station claimed 31 lives.