Today In History

In 1851: Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.

In 1897: Responding to rumors, Mark Twain, 61, was quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that “the report of my death was an exaggeration.”

In 1924: Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.

In 1953: Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1979: Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.