November 21st, 2008

Today in History

1985:
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).

1970:
A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).

1964:
Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

1962:
The Chinese People's Liberation Army declared a unilateral cease-fire in the Sino-Indian War.

1953:
Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the "Piltdown Man", held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax.