41.0°

In Alaska, in the Nation and the World

In Alaska

• In 1882, Vice President Charles Warren Fairbanks, after whom Fairbanks was named, 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 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.

• 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 1998, Attorney General Janet Reno requested an independent counsel to investigate Labor Secretary Alexis Herman for alleged influence-peddling and solicitation of illegal campaign contributions. Herman was later cleared.

• In 2003, the United States declared Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party dead.