This Day in History

In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been "broken” and would "never rise again.”

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Office of Economic Stabilization.

In 1951, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ralph Branca in the "shot heard ’round the world.”

In 1952, Britain conducted its first atomic test as it detonated a 25-kiloton device in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia.

In 1962, astronaut Wally Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Sigma 7 on a nine-hour flight.

In 1988, Lebanese kidnappers released Indian educator Mithileshwar Singh, who’d been held captive with three Americans for more than 20 months.

In 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial found the former football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. (However, Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial.)

In 2002, five people were shot to death in the Washington, D.C., area within a 14-hour period, beginning the hunt for the "Beltway Sniper.” (In all, 10 people were killed; mastermind John Allen Muhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were later caught.)

Ten years ago: Sony co-founder Akio Morita, the entrepreneur, engineer and savvy salesman who helped give new meaning to the words "Made in Japan,” died in Tokyo at age 78.

Five years ago: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC’s "This Week” program, defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear capabilities in the months before the Iraq invasion. Actress Janet Leigh died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 77. The comedy-drama series "Desperate Housewives” premiered on ABC.

One year ago: Amid dire warnings of economic disaster, a reluctant Congress abruptly reversed course and approved a historic $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry; President George W. Bush swiftly signed it. Thirteen years to the day after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, the former football star was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison.)

Today’s Birthdays: Author Gore Vidal is 84. Basketball player Marques Haynes is 83. Composer Steve Reich is 73. Singer Alan O’Day is 69. Rock and roll star Chubby Checker is 68. Actor Alan Rachins is 67. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is 66. Magician Roy Horn is 65. Singer Lindsey Buckingham is 60. Jazz musician Ronnie Laws is 59. Blues singer Keb’ Mo’ is 58. Former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is 55. Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is 55. Actor Hart Bochner is 53. Actor Peter Frechette is 53. Golfer Fred Couples is 50. Actor Jack Wagner is 50. Rock musician Tommy Lee is 47. Actor Clive Owen is 45. Actress Janel Moloney is 40. Singer Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) is 40. Pop singer Kevin Richardson is 38. Rock singer G. Love is 37. Actress Keiko Agena is 36. Actress Neve Campbell is 36. Singer India.Arie is 34. Rapper Talib Kweli is 34. Actress Alanna Ubach is 34. Actor Seann William Scott is 33. Actress Shannyn Sossamon is 31. Actor Seth Gabel is 28. Rock musician Mark King (Hinder) is 27. Actor Erik Von Detten is 27. Actress-singer Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is 25.