Today in history

1792

The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1866

English novelist H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent.

1897

The New York Sun ran its famous editorial, written anonymously by Francis P. Church, which declared, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

1925

The Rudolf Friml operetta “The Vagabond King” opened on Broadway.

1938

A hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700lives.

1948

Milton Berle made his debut as permanent host of “The Texaco Star Theater” on NBC-TV.

1957

Norway’s King Haakon VII died in Oslo at age 85. The legal mystery-drama “Perry Mason,” starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS-TV.

1964

Malta gained independence from Britain.

1970

“NFL Monday Night Football” made its debut on ABC-TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the visiting New York Jets, 31-21.

1976

Orlando Letelier, onetime foreign minister to Chilean President Salvador Allende

1989

Hurricane Hugo crashed into Charleston, South Carolina (the storm was blamed for 56deaths in the Caribbean and 29in the United States). Twenty-one students in Alton, Texas, died when their school bus, hit by a softdrink delivery truck, careened into a water-filled pit.

1996

John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, Georgia. The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.

2006

The Bush White House and rebellious Senate Republicans, including John McCain of Arizona, announced agreement on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror. Space shuttle Atlantis and its six astronauts safely returned from a 12-day mission to install a big new piece of the orbiting outpost. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all Americans ages 13 to 64 be routinely tested for HIV.