Today In History
In 1791: The Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.
In 1890: Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a fracas with Indian police.
In 1916: The French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.
In 1938: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington D.C.
In 1939: The motion picture “Gone With the Wind” had its world premiere in Atlanta.
In 1948: Former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of perjury. (He was convicted in 1950.)
In 1961: Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.
In 1965: Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.
In 1978: President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year’s Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.
In 1989: a popular uprising began that resulted in the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.