On this day in 1936, Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became the Duke of Windsor.
On this day in 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established on this day in 1946 by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war.
Original series began on this day in 1980 and aired till May 8, 1988 on the CBS television network.
On this day in 1950, China entered the Korean conflict forcing UN forces to retreat.
The Nazis forced 500,000 Jews of Warsaw, Poland to live within a walled ghetto on this day in 1940.
On this day in 1973, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she was responsible for the 18-1/2 minute gap in a key Watergate tape. Woods was President Nixon‘s personal secretary.
The motion picture "Casablanca" had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on this day in 1942.
Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock) is 78 today.
Considered the Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner released the single "Proud Mary" in 1971 and has received eleven Grammy Awards, collaborating with many other popular artists.
Tina picked cotton with her parents as sharecroppers, and soon moved in with her great-aunt after her parents divorced in 1978 and later worked as a nurse’s aide, dreaming of becoming a nurse someday.
During World War II, German war planes destroyed most of the English town of Coventry when about 500 Luftwaffe bombers attacked on this day in 1940.
A German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber.
Novel published on this day in 1851.
American writer and Nobel Prize laureate William Faulkner once stated he wished he had written it himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world", and "the greatest book of the sea ever written".
On this day in 1889, New York World reporter Elizabeth Cochrane (pen name Nellie Bly) began an attempt to surpass the fictitious journey of Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg by traveling around the world in less than 80 days. Bly succeeded by finishing the trek the following January in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes.
On this day in 1943, Leonard Bernstein made his debut with the New York Philharmonic when he filled in for the ailing Bruno Walter prior to a nationally broadcast concert. Bernstein was 25 years old and was an assistant conductor at the time.
Leonard Bernstein(August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990)
Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990)
Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other music. He was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers."
Communist East Germany opened its borders on this day in 1989, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany.
On this day in 1938, Nazi troops and sympathizers destroyed and looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, burned 267 synagogues, killed 91 Jews, and rounded up over 25,000 Jewish men in an event that became known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass."
The great Northeast blackout occurred on this day in 1965, as several states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours.
Dylan Marlais Thomas (October 27, 1914 – November 9, 1953)
Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found earning a living as a writer difficult. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts.
At the post-mortem, the pathologist found three causes of death – pneumonia, brain swelling and a fatty liver. Despite his heavy drinking his liver showed no sign of cirrhosis. He was only 39.
Arthur William Matthew "Art" Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003)
On this day in 1923, Adolf Hitler (center) made his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the "Beer-Hall Putsch."
On this day in 1960, Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was declared the winner of the Presidential Election over Vice-President Richard M. Nixon.
Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California on this day in 1966.
The newly elected Governor of California, Ronald Reagan talks to the press with wife Nancy by his side.
Blues singer-songwriter, musician, and activist Bonnie Lynn Raitt is 68 today.
Raitt has received 10 Grammy Awards. She is listed as number 50 in Rolling Stone‘s list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time” and number 89 on their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Led Zeppelin’s album "Led Zeppelin IV" was released on this day in 1971. The album included the song "Stairway to Heaven."
