In Flemington, New Jersey on t his day in 1935, a jury found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of the kidnapping and death of the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed for the crimes (below).
Charles Lindbergh, Jr (1930 – 1932)
During World War II on this day in 1945, allied aircraft began bombing the German city of Dresden. It was almost completely destroyed and became a symbol of the “terror bombing” campaign against Germany, which was one of the most controversial allied actions of the war.
During World War II on this day in1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. Stalingrad has since been renamed Volgograd.
On this day in 1971, Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda after a coup that ousted President Milton Obote.
Often portrayed as a “monster in disguise”, Idi Amin was the third President of Uganda.
On this day in 2003, NASA’s space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
Helmet found in a field after the space shuttle Columbia disaster.
Memorial at the Columbia Debris Site.
During the Vietnam War on this day in 1968, South Vietnamese National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. The scene was captured in a news photograph shown above.
Vietcong officer Nguyen Van Lem minutes prior to his execution.
Henry Kissinger (seated center) signs the Paris Peace Accords on this day in 1973 in Paris. The war ended on April 30, 1975, when Saigon surrendered almost without fighting to the communist forces, ending the United States’ involvement in Vietnam.
Nguyen Duy Trinh (center) heads the delegation from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
At Cape Kennedy, FL, on this day in 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft.
The charred remains of the Apollo 1 cabin interior.
On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
The Pueblo’s mission began in early January, 1968, when the crew set off from the U.S. Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan with orders to conduct surveillance on Soviet Navy and North Korean signal and electronic intelligence activity.
The captured crew (above) were beaten and nearly starved in the incident that almost led to another war.
Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.
North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.
On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.
LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis, Md.
John William Carson(October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
