Monday, August 29, 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST 29
1533:Atahualpa, the last emperor of the Incas, is treacherously executed by the soldiers of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, despite being promised his freedom after giving the Spaniards a ransom of 24 tons of gold and silver.

1957: Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina ends the longest filibuster in Senate history; he finally sits down after talking for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which passes later that night.

1965: Gordon Cooper, commander of the Gemini V spacecraft, speaks via radio to Scott Carpenter, a fellow former Project Mercury pilot, who is aboard the underwater laboratory Sealab II in the Pacific Ocean. It is the first communication between the two great frontiers of modern exploration — outer space and the depths of the ocean.
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