On this date:

In 1867, the U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

In 1892 , the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago was officially opened (it could handle only one call at a time).

In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, N.J., at 84.

In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.

In 1969, the federal government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of health concerns.

In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.

In 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Mo., at age 97.