On this day in 730, the Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami, at the Battle of Marj Ardabil.
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On this day in 1793, New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.
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On this day in 1851, the first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.
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On this day in 1872, in Louisiana, P.B.S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a US state.
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On this day in 1935, Walter Liggett, American newspaper editor and muckraker, is killed in gangland murder.
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On this day in 1946, the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials" begin with the "Doctors' Trial", prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation. Mengele, unfortunately, the infamous Doctor Death, isn't there. He's hiding out in South America, where he will remain for decades, undetected.
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On this day in 1950, Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who both fry for their efforts.
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On this day in 1953, General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.
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On this day in 1958, the virulently right-wing John Birch Society is founded in the United States.
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On this day in 1960, the first episode of the world's longest-running television soap opera Coronation Street is broadcast in the United Kingdom.
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On this day in 1963, three amateur kidnappers snatch 19-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr. from a motel room in Lake Tahoe. Frank Jr. is held hostage for four days, until Frank Sr. pays the kidnappers' ransom demand of $240,000. The kidnappers were apprehended almost immediately. After serving his time, the "brains" behind the kidnapping - Barry Keenan, a close friend of Jr's sister Nancy - went on to make a fortune in real-estate speculation.
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On this day in 1979, the eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.
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On this day in 1981, porno superstar John Holmes is charged with taking part in the brutal iron-bar torture/murders of four underworld figures in California's Laurel Canyon. He is found guilty and spends a few years in jail, where his experience in gay porn comes in real handy.
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On this day in 1992, the would-be King of England and his fairytale bride send British Prime Minister John Major out to officially inform their pudding-slurping, East Enders-watching subjects that their loveless charade of a marriage was finally coming to a legal and incontrovertible end. Once they had rid themselves of each other's company, Charles and Diana were free to explore life-options that had heretofore been closed off to them. And so it was that the Prince began to work on a revolutionary line of sentient horse tampons, while his former bride Diana fucked her way through an innumerable assortment of Egyptians, footballers, and well-hung veterans of the Falklands Conflict.
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