This Day in History
In Alaska
• In 1852, Vice President Charles Warren Fairbanks, whom Fairbanks was named after, was born in Ohio.
• In 1912, work began on the Governor's Mansion in Juneau.
• In 1929, the first legal boxing event in the territory of Alaska was held in Juneau. Previously, such boxing was illegal.
• In 1943, American Army troops landed on Attu Island, beginning a fierce battle to recapture the island from the Japanese.
• In 1972, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton decided to grant a right-of-way permit for construction of the 798-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline, pending litigation by environmental groups.
In the nation
• In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the union.
• In 1910, Glacier National Park in Montana was established.
• In 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the "Pentagon Papers" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.
• In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.
• In 2000, Pope John Paul II named Bishop Edward M. Egan of Bridgeport, Conn., the new head of the New York archdiocese, succeeding the late Cardinal John O'Connor.
In the world
• In 1944, Allied forces launched a major offensive against German lines in Italy.
• In 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.
• In 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations as the world body's 59th member.
• In 1985, 55 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.
• In 1995, a United Nations conference indefinitely extended the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was originally set to expire after 25 years.
• In 2004, a video on an al-Qaida-linked Web site showed the beheading of American hostage Nicholas Berg, who'd been kidnapped in Iraq.