On this date:
In 1773, the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Virginia.

In 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

In 1861, the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America elected Jefferson Davis president and Alexander H. Stephens vice president.

In 1870, the US Weather Bureau was established.

In 1933, the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University endorsed, 275-to-153, a motion stating "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country," a stand widely denounced by Britons.

In 1943, the World War Two battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

In 1964, The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

In 1971, the "Apollo 14" spacecraft returned to Earth after man's third landing on the moon.

In 1983, in a dramatic reversal from fifty years earlier (see above), the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University rejected, 416-to-187, a motion "that this House would not fight for Queen and Country."

In 1984, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov died at age 69, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was succeeded by Konstantin U. Chernenko.

Ten years ago: The Perrier Group of America Incorporated announced it was voluntarily recalling its inventory of mineral water in the United States after tests showed the presence of benzene in a small number of bottles.

Five years ago: Former Senator J. William Fulbright died in Washington at age 89.

One year ago: The Senate began closed-door deliberations in President Clinton's impeachment trial, even though members from both parties acknowledged that the two-thirds margin for conviction could not be attained.

每日格言

"If we knew where opinion ended and fact began, we should have discovered, I suppose, the absolute."

-- Alec Waugh, English author (1898-1981).