This Day in History
In Alaska
• In 1925, the City of Juneau purchased its first combination grader and snow plow, costing $1,600.
• In 1969, the John Birch Society planned to hire a full-time coordinator in Anchorage.
In the nation
• In 1878, the first commercial telephone switchboard went into operation, in New Haven, Conn.
• In 1878, the first daily college newspaper, the Yale News, began publication in New Haven, Conn.
• In 1909, the United States ended direct control over Cuba.
• In1915, the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.
• In 1916, Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.
• In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Fla., killing all seven crew members.
• In 1995, President Clinton was host to a 5 1/2-hour "work session" of governors, legislators and local officials, both Democrats and Republicans, to discuss welfare reform.
• In 2000, Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the Florida nun selected by Attorney General Janet Reno as a neutral party in the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, sought unsuccessfully to persuade Reno to change her mind about returning the 6-year-old to Cuba.
In the world
• In 1945, during World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
• In 1973, a cease-fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War.
• In 1980, six U.S. diplomats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.