This Day in History
1306: Robert Bruce is crowned king of Scotland at Scone.
1625: Britain's King James I dies and is succeeded by Charles I.
1814: At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Gen. Andrew Jackson wins a decisive victory over the Creek Indian Nation, ending the Creek War (1813-14) and opening Alabama and parts of Georgia to white settlement.
1847: In the war with Mexico, 12,000 U.S. troops take Vera Cruz.
1958: Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union.
1964: A 9.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Alaska , killing 131.
1977: In the world's worst airline disaster, 2 Boeing 747s collide on the runway in the Canary Islands, killing 582.
1981: The United Mine Workers go on strike against the Bituminous Coal Operators Association.
2002: Pres. George W. Bush signs a sweeping campaign finance bill into law, as opponents vow to challenge its constitutionality in court.
2002: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 19 Israelis who are attending a Passover dinner at a hotel and wounds 100 others.
Today's Birthdays
1845: Wilhelm Roentgen, scientist who discovered X-rays (Lennep, Prussia; died 1923)
1879: Miller Huggins, baseball player and manager (Cincinnati, OH; died 1929). Edward Steichen, photographer (Luxembourg, Germany; died 1973)
1899: Gloria Swanson, actress (Chicago, IL; died 1983)
1912: James (Lord) Callaghan, British prime minister (Portsmouth, England; died 2005)
1924: Sarah Vaughan, jazz singer (Newark, NJ; died 1990)
1940: Cale Yarborough, auto racer (Timmonsville, SC)
1942: Michael York, actor (Fulmer, England)
1952: Maria Schneider, actress (Paris, France)
1963: Randall Cunningham, football player (Santa Barbara, CA). Quentin Tarantino, actor/director (Knoxville, TN)
1970: Mariah Carey, singer (Huntington, NY)
