October 14th, 2008

Today in History

1999:
1999 - The South Carolina Supreme Court rules that the video poker machines in the state must be unplugged by June 30, 2000.

1987:
18-month-old Jessica McClure ("Baby Jessica") falls down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas (her nationally televised rescue takes 58 hours).

1970:
1970 - The U.S. conducts an underground nuclear weapon test at the Nevada Test Site.

1968:
Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.

1949:
Eleven leaders of the U.S. Communist Party are convicted, after a nine-month trial, of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Ten defendants are sentenced to 5 years in prison each, and the eleventh to 3 years. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions on June 4, 1951.