This Day in History
1704: During the War of the Spanish Succession, Gibraltar is captured by combined English and Dutch forces.
1847: Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers arrive at Utah 's Salt Lake Valley.
1948: Soviet forces cut off roads and railways into Berlin, Germany, from the West.
1974: The Supreme Court rules, 8-0, that Pres. Richard Nixon must turn over 64 tapes of White House conversations to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski. The House Judiciary Committee begins holding televised hearings into the impeachment of Pres. Richard Nixon over Watergate.
1998: Russell Eugene Weston Jr. opens fire in the Capitol building, killing two police officers.
2001: Pope John Paul II meets with President George W. Bush and expresses opposition to the creation of human embryos for research.
2003: A report by a joint Congressional committee details intelligence lapses and other failures that preceded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
Today's Birthdays
1783: Simón Bolivar, South American revolutionary leader (Caracas, Venezuela; died 1830)
1802: Alexandre Dumas (Père), novelist/playwright (Villers-Cotterets, France; died 1870)
1880: Ernest Bloch, composer (Geneva, Switzerland; died 1959)
1898: Amelia Earhart, pioneer aviator (Atchison, KS; disappeared 1937)
1921: Billy Taylor, jazz pianist (Greenville, SC)
1936: Ruth Buzzi, actress/comedian (Westerly, RI)
1939: Walt Bellamy, basketball player (New Bern, NC)
1947: Robert Hays, actor (Bethesda, MD)
1949: Michael Richards, actor (Culver City, CA)
1951: Lynda Carter, actress (Phoenix, AZ)
1952: Gus Van Sant, director (Louisville, KY)
1963: Julie Krone, jockey (Benton Harbor, MI). Karl Malone, basketball player (Summerfield, LA)
1964: Barry Bonds, baseball player (Riverside, CA)
1966: Kadeem Hardison, actor (New York, NY)
1968: Laura Leighton, actress (Iowa City, IA)
1970: Jennifer Lopez, actress/singer (Bronx, NY)
1975: Eric Szmanda, actor (Milwaukee, WI)
1982: Anna Paquin, actress (Wellington, New Zealand)
