This Day in History....
On this day in ...
1789, during the French Revolution, citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside
1798, Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it a federal crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the U.S. government
1853, Commodore Matthew Perry relayed to Japanese officials a letter from former President Fillmore, requesting trade relations
1881, outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias "Billy the Kid," was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, N.M.
1933, all German political parties, except the Nazi Party, were outlawed
1958, the army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy
1965, the American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, sending back photographs of the planet
1966, eight student nurses were murdered by Richard Speck in a Chicago dormitory
1978, Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky was convicted of treasonous espionage and anti-Soviet agitation, and sentenced to 13 years at hard labor. (Sharansky was released in 1986.)
2001, in a boost for President Bush's hopes to build a defense against ballistic missile attack, the Pentagon scored a hit with an interceptor that soared into space from a tiny Pacific isle and destroyed its target, a mock nuclear warhead
2005, U.S. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, ending a two-day stay in the hospital, pledged to continue working as long as his health permitted. (Rehnquist died in September 2005.)