This Day in History
In Alaska
• In 1911, an entire block in the Iditarod business district was destroyed by fire.
• In 1949, the National Labor Relations Board ruled against the CIO Longshoreman's Union in a dispute with the Juneau Spruce Corp.
• In 1959, acting Gov. Hugh Wade signed into law a bill creating 12 departments within the executive branch of Alaska government (such as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Education).
• In 1967, nine crewmembers were rescued from the sinking 72-foot Canadian halibut boat, Dollina, off the southwest tip of Kodiak Island.
• In 1968, a fire wiped out much of the Ocean Dock complex in Cordova.
• In 1969, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens revealed that Ed Nixon - President Richard Nixon's brother - would be the new head of the Federal Field Committee for Development in Alaska.
In the nation
• In 1818, Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a star to be added for every new state of the Union.
• In 1841, President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.