This Day in History
1431: French heroine and leader Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by the English after having been convicted of heresy.
1498: Christopher Columbus sets sail on his third voyage, visiting Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela.
1854: The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law, leaving the issue of slavery to the vote of settlers.
1868: Memorial Day is observed for the first time, on the order of Gen. John Alexander Logan, for the purpose of decorating the graves of the American Civil War dead.
1909: The National Conference on the Negro opens, leading to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
1922: The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC.
1943: In World War II, the U.S. infantry retakes the Aleutian Islands from the Japanese after 3 weeks of fighting.
1966: The U.S. launches the lunar probe Surveyor 1, which makes a soft landing on the moon and sends back thousands of photographs.
2002: During an emotional ceremony, one final girder is removed from the World Trade Center clean-up site in New York City.
Today's Birthdays
1672: Peter I (Peter the Great), czar and emperor of Russia (Moscow, Russia; died 1725)
1846: Peter Carl Fabergé, goldsmith/jeweler (St. Petersburg, Russia; died 1920)
1896: Howard Hawks, director (Goshen, IN; died 1977)
1909: Benny Goodman, bandleader/musician (Chicago, IL; died 1986)
1912: Julian Symons, mystery writer/poet/critic (London, England; died 1994)
1927: Clint Walker, actor (Hartford, IL)
1936: Keir Dullea, actor (Cleveland, OH)
1939: Michael J. Pollard, actor (Passaic, NJ)
1943: Gale Sayers, football player (Wichita, KS)
1953: Colm Meaney, actor (Dublin, Ireland)
1972: Manny Ramirez, baseball player (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
