TODAY: OK, historians, today we’re thinking of you.
The Associated Press offers a “this day in history” feature that we wanted to share. There’s some neat stuff here. For instance, today is the 146th day of 2017, and there are 219 days left in the year.
On this date: In 1521, Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms (Vohrms) because of his religious beliefs and writings.
In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on the remaining charges; In 1897, the Gothic horror novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoker was first published in London;
In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress; In 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II;
In 1960, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets during a meeting of the Security Council of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)
In 1977, George Willig scaled the outside of the South Tower of New York’s World Trade Center; he was arrested at the top of the 110-story building.
In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.
In 1991, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard.
BIRTHDAYS: The AP tells us who is celebrating birthdays today, too.
Sportscaster Brent Musberger is 78. Rock musician Garry Peterson (Guess Who) is 72. Singer Stevie Nicks is 69. Actor Philip Michael Thomas, of Miami Vice fame, is 68.
Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 68. Actress Margaret Colin, of As the World Turns, is 59. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 55. Singer-actor Lenny Kravitz is 53. Actress Helena Bonham Carter is 51. Distance runner Zola Budd is 51.
Thought for Today: “Life is a tragedy full of joy” — Bernard Malamud, American author.
