Today In History

In 1776: Continental Congress members began signing the Declaration of Independence.

In 1876: “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in Deadwood, S.D.

In 1939: Albert Einstein wrote President Roosevelt, asking him to build the atom bomb.

In 1943: A Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands.

In 1964: The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.

In 1990: Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. The Iraqis were driven out in Operation Desert Storm.