Today In History

In 1787: Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1796: Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States.

In 1941: Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, an act that led to America’s entry into World War II.

In 1972: Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant who was then shot dead by her bodyguards.

In 1995: a 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter’s atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was presumably destroyed.