This Day in History
1842: The Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, fixing the U.S.-Canada border in Maine and Minnesota.
1945: During World War II, the 2nd atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, killing some 40,000 people.
1974: Pres. Richard Nixon resigns, the first president ever to do so; Vice Pres. Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th president.
1981: Following the settlement of a 7-week players' strike, baseball play resumes with the All-Star Game; the regular season is divided into 2 halves.
1989: Pres. George Bush signs a multibillion-dollar measure to rescue the savings and loan industry.
2000: Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. announces the recall of 6.5 million tires after a government investigation implicates the company's tires in the deaths of 46 people.
2001: President George W. Bush announces that he will allow federal funding for limited stem-cell research.
2005: The space shuttle Discovery returns after a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. It is the first shuttle flight since the February 2003 loss of the orbiter Columbia.
Today's Birthdays
1631: John Dryden, poet/dramatist/critic (Britain; died 1700)
1896: Jean Piaget, psychologist (Switzerland; died 1980)
1928: Bob Cousy, basketball player/coach (New York, NY)
1938: Rod Laver, tennis champion (Rockhampton, Australia)
1942: David Steinberg, comedian/director (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
1944: Sam Elliott, actor (Sacramento, CA)
1945: Ken Norton, champion boxer (Jacksonville, IN)
1948: William J. Daley, presidential campaign manager and former commerce secretary (Chicago, IL)
1957: Melanie Griffith, actress (New York, NY)
1963: Whitney Houston, singer/actress (East Orange, NJ)
1964: Brett Hull, hockey player (Belleville, Ontario, Canada)
1967: Deion Sanders, football/baseball player (Fort Meyers, FL)
1968: Gillian Anderson, actress (Chicago, IL). Eric Bana, actor (Melbourne, Australia)
1978: Audrey Tautou, actress (Beaumont, France)
