This Day in History
1879: A British force totaling more than 1200 men is almost annihilated by Zulu warriors at Isandhlwana in South Africa.
1901: Britain's Queen Victoria dies after ruling for more than 63 years.
1905: Thousands of Russians march to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present their demands to the czar. Hundreds are killed and wounded by the imperial guards, triggering a revolution.
1943: U.S. and Australian soldiers take New Guinea in the first land victory over the Japanese in World War II.
1944: Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy.
1949: During the Chinese revolution, Beijing surrenders to the Communist forces.
1973: In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court rules that states cannot prevent women from having abortions during the first 6 months of pregnancy. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson dies in Texas.
1998: Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty in the Unabomber case.
2003: The Senate votes 94-0 to approve Pres. Bush 's nomination of former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as the first secretary of Homeland Security.
Today's Birthdays
1440: Ivan III Vasilyevich (the Great), grand duke of Moscow (Moscow, Russia; died 1505)
1561: Sir Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, and essayist (London, England; died 1626)
1729: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German dramatist and critic (Kamenz, Germany; died 1781)
1788: George Gordon, Lord Byron, poet (England; died 1824)
1849: August Strindberg, novelist/dramatist (Stockholm, Sweden; died 1912)
1875: D. W. Griffith, producer/director (LaGrange, KY; died 1948)
1890: Fred M. Vinson, chief justice of the Supreme Court (Louisa, KY; died 1953)
1897: Rosa Ponselle, opera singer (Meriden, CT; died 1981)
1904: George Balanchine, ballet choreographer and head of the NYC Ballet (St. Petersburg, Russia; died 1983)
1909: Ann Sothern, actress (Valley City, ND; died 2001). U Thant, Burmese statesman and UN secretary-general (Pantanaw, Burma; died 1974)
1910: Harold S. Geneen, president and chief executive of International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. (Bournemouth, England; died 1997)
1911: Bruno Kreisky, chancellor of Austria (Vienna, Austria; died 1990)
1932: Piper Laurie, actress (Detroit, MI)
1936: Alan Jay Heeger, American physicist and Nobel laureate (Sioux City, IA)
1937: Joseph Wambaugh, author (East Pittsburgh, PA)
1940: John Hurt, actor (Chesterfield, England)
1953: Jim Jarmusch, director (Akron, OH)
1959: Linda Blair, actress (St. Louis, MO)
1967: Olivia D'Abo, actress (London, England)
