TODAY IN HISTORY

On This Day in:

1835 – Hans Christian Andersen published his _rst book of fairy tales.

1909 – The Pennsylvania Trust Company, of Carlisle, PA, became the _rst bank in the in the U.S. to offer a Christmas Club account.

1913 – Ford Motor Co. began using a new movable assembly line that ushered in the era of mass production.

1913 – The _rst drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh, PA.

1919 – Lady Astor was sworn in as the _rst female member of the British Parliament.

1925 – The Locarno Pact _nalized the treaties between World War I protagonists.

1934 – Sergei M. Kirov, a collaborator of Joseph Stalin, was assassinated at the Leningrad party headquarters.

1941 – In the U.S., the Civil Air Patrol was created. In April 1943 the Civil Air Patrol was placed under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces.

1942 – In the U.S., nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect.

1943 – In Teheran, leaders of the United States, the USSR and the United Kingdom met to reaf_rm the goal set on October 30, 1943. The previous meeting called for an early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security.

1952 – In Denmark, it was announced that the _rst successful sex-change operation had been performed.

1955 – Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the U.S.

1959 – 12 countries, including the U.S. and USSR, signed a treaty that set aside Antarctica as a scienti_c preserve, which would be free from military activity.

1965 – An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began.

1969 – The U.S. government held its _rst draft lottery since World War II.

1984 – A remote-controlled Boeing 720 jetliner was deliberately crashed into California’s Mojave Desert to test an antiame fuel additive. The test proved to be disappointing.

1986 – U.S. President Ronald Reagansaid he would welcome an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair if it were recommended by the Justice Department.

1987 – Construction began on the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France.

1987 – NASA announced four companies had been given contracts to help build a space station. The companies were Boeing Aerospace, G. E.’s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas Aeronautics, and Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.

1989 – Dissidents in the Philippine military launched an unsuccessful coup against Corazon Aquino’s government.

1989 – East Germany’s Parliament abolished the Communist Party’s constitutional guarantee of supremacy.

1990 – Iraq accepted a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis.

1990 – British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel _nally met under the English Channel.

1991 – Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin survived an impeachment attempt by hard-liners at the opening of the Russian Congress.

1994 – The U.S. Senate gave _nal congressional approval to the 124-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1998 – Exxon announced that it was buying Mobil for $73.7 billion creating the largest company in the world to date.