about today

ALSO ON THIS DAY

• Lead Story

•  1904 Madame Butterfly premieres

• American Revolution

• 1782 French and British battle in the Indian Ocean

• Automotive

• 1972 Beetle overtakes Model T as world’s best-selling car

• Civil War

• 1865 Sherman sacks Columbia, South Carolina

• Cold War

• 1947 Voice of America begins broadcasts to Russia

• Crime

• 1906 The first “Trial of the Century”

• Disaster

• 1993 Ferry sinks near Haiti

• General Interest

• 1801 Deadlock over presidential election ends
• 1957 Gromyko becomes foreign minister
• 1979 China invades Vietnam

• Hollywood

• 1982 Lee Strasberg dies

• Literary

• 2000 Dave Eggers’ Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius debuts

• Music

• 1966 Brian Wilson rolls tape on “Good Vibrations,” take one

• Old West

• 1820 Senate passes Missouri Compromise

• Presidential

• 1801 Thomas Jefferson is elected

• Sports

• 1996 Kasparov defeats chess-playing computer

• Vietnam War

• 1966 Taylor testifies on Operation Rolling Thunder
• 1968 U.S. casualty rate reaches record high

• World War I

• 1915 Zeppelin L-4 crashes into North Sea

• World War II

• 1944 U.S. troops land on Eniwetok atoll