Today In History

1789: Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

1845: Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

1920: The Dutch government refused demands from the victorious Allies to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany.

1932: New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1937: 17 people went on trial in Moscow during Josef Stalin’s “Great Purge.”

1943: Critic Alexander Woollcott suffered a fatal heart attack during a live broadcast of the CBS radio program “People’s Platform.”

1950: The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

1964: The 24th amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.

1968: North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the communist nation’s territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.

1977: The TV mini-series “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.

1973: President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.