 | On This Day | | | Discover the Fastest Route to Britannica - EB.com!
| 
| | Harold Abrahams
British athlete Harold Abrahams, born this day in 1899, won a gold medal in the 100-metre dash at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, a victory that became the subject of the Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire (1981).
Explore more key moments in history with a free trial.Learn more>>
| | | | 
| | 1939: Premiere of Gone with the Wind
Starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, the film Gone with the Wind—a romantic tale of the American South during the Civil War adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell—premiered this day in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1939.
Explore more key moments in history with a free trial.Learn more>>
|
Teaching Degree
| | | | | Visit Britannica's Free Online Games - Click Here! | | 1997: | | The U.S. Department of Defense ordered that all 1.4 million Americans in its service be inoculated against anthrax, a potential weapon of biological warfare. | | 1997: | | Janet Rosenberg Jagan was elected president of Guyana, becoming the first elected female president in South America and the first white president of Guyana. | | 1989: | |  Antigovernment demonstrations erupted in Timisoara, Romania, beginning the revolution that toppled the communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu from power a few days afterward. | | 1948: | |  Former U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted on two charges of perjury for lying about his dealings with Whittaker Chambers, who accused him of membership in a communist espionage ring. | | 1892: | | J. Paul Getty, the American oil billionaire, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. | | 1890: | | The Teton Dakota Indian chief Sitting Bull was killed by U.S. troops on the Grand River in South Dakota. | | 1791: | | The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—the Bill of Rights, which is a collection of mutually reinforcing guarantees of individual rights and limitations on federal and state governments—were adopted as a single unit. | | | |
Free Shipping on orders over $125!
|
| | |
 Get updated Britannica content with Quote of the Day, Advocacy for Animals, and more!
Learn More |
|
|
|
 Enjoy a daily dose of biographies when you visit or grab Britannica's Born on this Day widget. Go |
|
|
| | | | | | |
