OCTOBER 18th

On this date in:
1685	King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had established the legal toleration of France's Protestant population, the Huguenots.
1767	The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon.
1867	The United States took possession of Alaska from Russia.
1892	The first long distance telephone line between Chicago and New York was opened.
1898	The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island to the United States.
1931	Inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at age 84 in West Orange, N.J.
1962	Dr. James D. Watson of the United States, and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins of Britain, were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
1969	The federal government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of evidence they cause cancer in laboratory rats.
1977	West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.
1977	Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees became the second player to hit three home runs in a World Series game as he led New York to an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the deciding Game 6.
1982	Former first lady Bess Truman died in Independence, Mo., at age 97.
1989	Erich Honecker was ousted as leader of East Germany after 18 years in power.
2001	Four defendants were convicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
2006	The Dow Jones industrial average passed 12,000 for the first time before pulling back to close at 11,992.68.
2007	Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of self-imposed exile; a suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming her killed more than 140 people, but Bhutto escaped unhurt.

Article of the day

U.S. takes possession of Alaska

On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson's own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal.
Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America's oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated.
The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.

Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=51785


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