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• In 1900, Italian King Humbert I was assassinated by an anarchist; he was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III.
• In 1921, Adolf Hitler became the leader ("fuehrer") of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
• In 1948, Britain's King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London.
• In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency was established. Jack Paar made his debut as host of NBC's "Tonight Show."
• In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.
• In 1967, an accidental rocket launch aboard the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen.
• In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland.
• In 1980, a state funeral was held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two days earlier at age 60.
• In 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible" and threw out his death sentence; Demjanjuk was set free.
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• Ten years ago: President George W. Bush refused to release a congressional report on possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the September 11 hijackers, saying disclosure "would help the enemy" by revealing intelligence sources and methods. Boston's Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.
• Five years ago: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from a powerful oil contractor. (A jury later found the longtime Republican lawmaker guilty of lying on financial disclosure forms, but a judge subsequently dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence.) Disgraced ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy admitted that he'd brought shame on his profession as a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for a gambling scandal. Army scientist (Continued on page 38)
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