This Day in History
In Alaska
• In 1910, an early morning fire destroyed several business buildings in Petersburg.
• In 1947, the inaugural Golden North Salmon Derby was established by the Juneau Sportsmens' Association.
• In 1952, the S.S. Princess Kathleen ran aground and sank 18 miles north of Juneau, eight miles from where the Princess Sophia went down in 1918.
• In 1969, Alaska Airlines announced the acquisition of Alaska Co., a Denver-based firm with interests in 20,000 acres of Federal land on the North Slope.
• In 1979, the State of Alaska ran ads costing $110,000 in 32 metropolitan newspapers nationwide urging readers to "FREE ALASKA" and to oppose the Udall-Anderson D-2 lands bill.
In the nation
• In 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, bade farewell to President John Quincy Adams at the White House.
• In 1936, rock legend Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas.
• In 1963, the National Professional Football Hall of Fame was dedicated in Canton, Ohio.
• In 1969, Senate Republican leader Everett M. Dirksen died in Washington. D.C.
• In 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the United States to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington. Convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy was released from prison after more than four years.
• In 1979, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, ESPN, made its debut.
• In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and mortally wounded on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later.
• In 2003, in a speech to the nation on Iraq, President Bush said he was asking Congress for $87 billion to fight terrorism and cautioned Americans that the struggle would "take time and require sacrifice." In the men's singles final at the U.S. Open, Andy Roddick beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3.