Today in History

1645 English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army
1922 Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by an ailing Vladimir Lenin.
1948 US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
1973 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin Cooper to the Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey
2016 Panama Papers published – 11.5 million confidential documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca expose widespread illegal activities including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion and the violation of international sanctions by the world’s elite in the world’s largest ever data leak

Today in Music

1960 Elvis Presley records ‘It’s Now Or Never’, ‘Fever’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ at RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee