Today In History

1794: President Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. The number of stripes was later reduced to 13.

1893: Britain’s Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the current Labor Party, first met.

1898: Emile Zola’s famous defense of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, “J’accuse,” was published in Paris.

1966: Robert C. Weaver, President Johnson’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development, became the first black Cabinet member.