Today In History

In 1820: Britain’s King George III died, insane, at Windsor Castle, ending a reign that had seen both the American and French revolutions.

In 1845: Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

In 1850: Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery which included admitting California to the Union as a free state.

In 1861: Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.

In 1979: President Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.