This Day in History

In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.

In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Harry S. Truman’s veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin held the first of two meetings at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.

In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s Watergate investigation. (Revelation of the tape recording of this conversation sparked Nixon’s resignation in 1974.)

In 1985, all 329 people aboard an Air India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland because of a bomb believed to have been planted by Sikh separatists.

In 2005, a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Kelo v. City of New London, ruled that governments may seize property for private development projects.

Ten years ago: Pope John Paul II arrived in Ukraine, seeking to reconcile divisions between Catholics and the Orthodox Church. Peru’s fugitive ex-spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos (mon-tay-SEE’-nohs), wanted on human rights and corruption charges, was captured in Venezuela. (Montesinos is serving a 25-year prison sentence.) A powerful offshore earthquake shook southern Peru, killing at least 71 people. Yvonne Dionne, one of three remaining Dionne quintuplets, died at age 67.

Five years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney denounced the revelation of an anti-terrorism program that tapped into an immense international database of confidential financial records. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced he was leaving the Bush administration. Television producer Aaron Spelling died in Los Angeles at age 83.

One year ago: Following Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s criticism of the Obama administration in a Rolling Stone magazine profile, President Barack Obama named Gen. David Petraeus to replace the Afghanistan commander. Gary Faulkner, who was detained by authorities in northern Pakistan during a personal quest to track down Osama bin Laden, was released.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Diana Trask is 71. Musical conductor James Levine (luh-VYN’) is 68. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rosetta Hightower (The Orlons) is 67. Actor Ted Shackelford is 65. Actor Bryan Brown is 64. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 63. Actor Jim Metzler is 60. "American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is 55. Actress Frances McDormand is 54. Rock musician Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) is 49. Actor Paul La Greca is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chico DeBarge is 41. Actress Selma Blair is 39. Rock singer KT Tunstall is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Virgo Williams (Ghostowns DJs) is 36. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 34. Rock singer Duffy is 27. Country singer Katie Armiger is 20.