This Day in History

In Alaska

• In 1904, the Alaska Weekly Transcript began publication in Juneau.

• In 1964, Alaska Highway Commissioner D.A. McKinnon announced that a one-year study would begin to find the best route for a proposed Nome-to-Fairbanks road.

• In 1979, for the fifth time, The Petroleum Club of Anchorage, consisting of male oil industry executives, voted to bar women oil executives from membership.

In the nation

• In 1777, British forces under General John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

• In 1919, the Radio Corporation of America was chartered.

• In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)

• In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

• In 1958, the special “An Evening with Fred Astaire,” the first major TV program produced on color videotape, aired on NBC.

• In 1978, President Carter signed a bill restoring U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

• In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck Northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion in damage.

• In 1998, the New York Yankees won Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the San Diego Padres 9-6.

• In 2003, fire killed six people in a high-rise county building in Chicago. The House and Senate voted to spend some $87 billion earmarked for securing peace and eliminating terrorist threats in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the world

• In 1807, Britain declared it would continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they held U.S. citizenship.

• In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi began offering limited commercial wireless telegraph service between Nova Scotia and Ireland.