TODAY IN HISTORY

1848

James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of ‘49.

1943

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.

1945

Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among a group of captives executed by the Germans at the Mauthausen-gusen concentration camp in Austria.

1965

British statesman Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

1978

A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Cosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

1985

The space shuttle Discovery was launched from Cape Canaveral on the first secret, all-military shuttle mission.

1989

Confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.

2003

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.

2011

A suicide bomber attacked Moscow’s busiest airport, killing 37 people; Chechen separatists claimed responsibility.

2020

Fifteen-year-old Coco Gauff upset defending champ Naomi Osaka in the third round of the Australian Open.

2013

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the lifting of a ban on women serving in combat. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee opened a hearing into President Barack Obama’s nomination of Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state. In Chicago, David Coleman Headley, an American drug dealer who had faced life in prison, was sentenced instead to 35years for helping plan the deadly 2008attacks on Mumbai, India - a punishment prosecutors said reflected his broad cooperation with U.S. investigators. New Orleans Hornets owner Tom Benson announced he was changing his team’s nickname to the Pelicans for the start of next season.