TODAY IN HISTORY

On This Day in:

240 BC – Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.

1586 – English colonists sailed away from Roanoke Island, NC, after failing to establish England’s first permanent settlement in America.

1778 – U.S. General George Washington’s troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.

1821 – The Ottomans defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani.

1846 – The New York Knickerbocker Club played the New York Club in the first baseball game at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ. It was the first organized baseball game.

1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.

1864 – The USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama off of Cherbourg, France.

1865 – The emancipation of slaves was proclaimed in Texas.

1867 – In New York, the Belmont Stakes was run for the first time.

1873 – Eadweard Muybridge successfully photographed a horse named “Sallie Gardner” in fast motion using a series of 24 stereoscopic cameras. This is considered the first step toward motion pictures.

1903 – The young school teacher, Benito Mussolini, was placed under investigation by police in Bern, Switzerland.

1910 – The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

1911 – In Pennsylvania, the first motion-picture censorship board was established.

1912 – The U.S. government established the 8-hour work day.

1917 – During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames.

1933 – France granted Leon Trotsky political asylum.

1934 – The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration was established.

1934 – The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The commission was to regulate radio and TV broadcasting (later).

1937 – The town of Bilbao, Spain, fell to the Nationalist forces.

1939 – In Atlanta, GA, legislation was enacted that disallowed pinball machines in the city.

1942 – Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) and her 21-year-old neighbor Jimmy Dougherty were married. They were divorced in June of 1946.

1942 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President Roosevelt. 1943 – Henry Kissinger became a naturalized United States citizen.

1943 – The National Football League approved the merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

1944 – The U.S. won the battle of the Philippine Sea against the Imperial Japanese fleet. 1951 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowered the draft age to 18.