today in history

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1927: Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union (more info) 1954: Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892 (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1775: The United States Marine Corps is founded (more info) 1871: Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States (more info) 1913: Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1825: The Erie Canal opens, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River (more info) 1881: Wyatt Earp, his two brothers, and Doc Holliday are involved in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1919 – President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed (More info) 1950 – Charles M. Schulz's iconic comic strip, 'Peanuts,' is first published (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ is published (More info) 1854 – Members of the Whig Party splinter off into a new group they call the Republican Party (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 44 BC – On the “Ides of March,” Julius Caesar is stabbed to death in the senate house by a group of conspirators led by Cimber, Casca, Cassius, and Marcus Junius Brutus (More info) 1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun (More info) 1865 – The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African-American troops (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1606 – Guy Fawkes, a chief conspirator in a plot to blow up the British Parliament building, jumps to his death moments before his execution for treason (More info) 1747 – The first venereal disease clinic opens at London Lock Hospital (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the first female doctor in the United States (More info) 1957 – Machines at the Wham-O toy company roll out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs, better known as Frisbees (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1915 – The electric neon sign was patented in the United States by Frenchman George Claude (More info) 1953 – Almost 70 percent of all television sets in the US are tuned in to ‘I Love Lucy’ to watch Lucy Ricardo have baby Ricky (More info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip (More info) 1950 – In what would come to be called the Great Brinks Robbery, thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car in Boston (More info)