1908

Tulsa voters approved 331-100 plans to write a charter for the city. They also elected four men — one from each ward—to serve on the charter board charged with drafting a charter. The vote was light because of a cold drizzle that fell all day.

1945

President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian dictator Josef Stalin met in the Russian Crimea city of Yalta to lay out spheres of influence for post-war Europe and to discuss strategy for the Pacific War. Until they were over, such summit meetings were top secret because of the possibility of enemy or terrorist attacks.

1958

The Navy fired its second Vanguard satellite rocket but had to destroy it after it climbed only a few thousand feet. The termination came two minutes and 43 seconds after the firing at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1974

Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She later joined her captors in promoting their cause and helped in bank robberies. She was sentenced to seven years for bank robbery but the sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter three years later and she was given a

1983

Singer Karen Carpenter who with her brother, Richard, helped bring romance back to popular music, died of cardiac arrest. The 32-year-old singer had suffered from anorexia nervosa, a disorder involving fear of being overweight. She was best known for songs such as “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Close to You.”

Gene Curtis 581-8304
gene.curtis@tulsaworld.com

To purchase “Only in Oklahoma,” a book of collected columns by Gene Curtis, visit www.tulsaworld.com/OnlyinOklahoma