Today In History

In 1853: The United States bought some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.

In 1911: Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

In 1922: Vladimir I. Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

In 1936: The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich.

In 1940: California’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.

In 1947: King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.

In 1972: the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1993, Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize each other.

In 1998: weak but radiant with pride, Nkem Chukwu, the mother of the Houston octuplets, went home from the hospital.