This Day in History
1545: The Council of Trent, an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to respond to the Protestant Reformation, begins its meetings.
1577: Sir Francis Drake begins his voyage to circumnavigate the globe.
1862: During the Civil War, Confederate troops under Gen. Robert E. Lee defeat the Union at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
1981: In Poland, the government decrees martial law and suspends the activities of the Solidarity labor union.
1991: North and South Korea sign a reconciliation and nonaggression pact, in their broadest accord since the 1953 armistice unofficially ending the Korean War.
2001: Five gunmen with links to Pakistani terror organizations open fire outside the Indian parliament building; 14 people, including the terrorists, are killed in the chaos. Pres. George W. Bush announces that the U.S. will withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union.
2002: Roman Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law resigns as archbishop of Boston amidst growing criticism for allegedly protecting priests accused of abusing minors.
2003: Deposed Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. forces in an underground hideout 9 miles from his hometown of Tikrit.
Today's Birthdays
1363: Jean de Gerson, French churchman and theologian (Ardennes, France; died 1429)
1553: Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France (Pau, Navarre, France; died 1610)
1797: Heinrich Heine, German poet (Düsseldorf, Germany; died 1856)
1818: Mary Todd Lincoln, first lady of the United States (Lexington, KY; died 1882)
1887: Alvin Cullum York, World War I hero (Pall Mall, TN; died 1964)
1902: Talcott Parsons, sociologist (Colorado Springs, CO; died 1979)
1906: Laurens Van Der Post, writer, linguist and anthropologist (Philippolis, South Africa; died 1996)
1911: Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and Nobel laureate (Skedsmo, Norway; died 1999)
1913: Archie Moore, champion boxer (Benoit, MS; died 1998)
1920: George Shultz, former secretary of state (New York, NY)
1925: Dick Van Dyke, actor/comedian (West Plains, MO)
1927: Christopher Plummer, actor (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
1930: Robert Prosky, actor (Philadelphia, PA)
1941: John Davidson, actor/singer (Pittsburgh, PA)
1949: Ted Nugent, singer (Detroit, MI)
1953: Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (Augusta, GA)
1957: Steve Buscemi, actor (Brooklyn, NY)
1969: Sergei Federov, hockey player (Pskov, Russia)
