From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On this day for the United States
Events
1804 -
Louisiana Purchase : In
St. Louis , a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of
Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
1848 - The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the
United States Senate , ending the
Mexican–American War .
1864 -
American Civil War : The
Red River Campaign begins as
Union troops reach
Alexandria, Louisiana .
1876 -
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful
telephone call by saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
1880 - Members of the
Salvation Army land in the United States and begin operations.
1891 -
Almon Strowger , an undertaker in
Topeka, Kansas , patents the
strowger switch , a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1902 - A
United States court of appeals rules that
Thomas Edison did not invent the
movie camera .
1918 -
Warner Bros. releases its first major film My Four Years in Germany .
1933 - An
earthquake in
Long Beach, California kills 120 people.
1945 - The
Army Air Force
firebombs Tokyo , and the resulting
conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1969 - In
Memphis, Tennessee ,
James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating
Martin Luther King Jr. . He would later retract his guilty plea.
1970 -
Vietnam War : Capt.
Ernest Medina is charged with
My Lai war crimes.
1975 - Vietnam War:
North Vietnamese troops attack
Ban Me Thuot ,
South Vietnam , on their way to capturing
Saigon .
1982 - The United States places an
embargo on
Libyan
petroleum imports because of their support of
terrorist groups .
2000 - The
NASDAQ
stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the
dot-com boom .
2006 -
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at
Mars .