On this day :

1936 Edward VIII abdicates, 1777 British delay Washingtons march to Valley Forge, 1962 NYC authorities jettison plans for expressway across Lower Manhattan, 1862 Federals occupy Fredericksburg, 1969 Soviets declare nudity a sign of western decadence, 2008 Billionaire conman Bernard Madoff arrested, 1944 Toronto endures record snowstorm, 1946 UNICEF founded, 1994 Yeltsin orders Russian forces into Chechnya, 1944 Tootsie actress Teri Garr born, 1918 Alexander Solzhenitsyn is born, 1964 Sam Cooke dies under suspicious circumstances in LA, 1872 Buffalo Bill Cody makes his first stage appearance, 1815 Madison presents trade agreement to Congress, 1981 Muhammad Ali vs Trevor Berbick, 1961 First US helicopters arrive in South Vietnam, 1969 Paratroopers depart South Vietnam, 1915 Yuan Shihkai accepts Chinese throne, 1941 Germany declares war on the United States,