Today in History

Historical Events

1998

20 people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster. The wings of a low-flying U.S. military aircraft cut the aerial tramway's cables, causing the cabin to plunge 80 meters.

1989

Paraguay's dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, is overthrown. Stroessner had come to power in 1954 with a military coup.

1972

The deadliest snowstorm in history kills 4000. The Iran Blizzard lasted a week and left whole villages without survivors.

1969

Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Even after his death in 2011, Arafat remained a highly controversial figure, many Arabs praising him as a freedom fighter while many Israelis denouncing him as a terrorist.

1966

Luna 9 touches down on the Moon. The unmanned Soviet spacecraft was the first to achieve a soft landing there.

Famous Births

Born on this day

Johnny

Johnny "Guitar" Watson

1935

American singer, guitarist

Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger

1927

American actor, director, author

Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein

1874

American poet, art collector

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

1830

English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

1809

German pianist, composer, conductor

Famous Deaths

Died on this day

Frank Oppenheimer

Frank Oppenheimer

1985

American physicist

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong

1961

American actress

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

1924

American politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

Gia Long

Gia Long

1820

Vietnamese Emperor

Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg

1468

German publisher, invented the Printing press