Today In HistoryToday is Monday, May 7, the 127th day of 2007. There are 238 days left in the year.

ON THIS DAT>

In 1954, Vietnamese forces overrun Dien Bien Phu, held by the French. A resulting cease-fire divides the country into North and South.

In 1971, United States removes all controls on use of dollars in US transactions with China.

In 1975, US President Gerald Ford declares an end to the “Vietnam era”. In Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, the Viet Cong celebrate its takeover.

In 1984, a $180 million out-of-court settlement is announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charge they suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

There is no one who became rich because he worked on a holiday, and no one who became fat because he broke a fast — Ethiopian proverb.