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Posted

1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, was settled as a colony of England.

1648 - Margaret Jones of Plymouth was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck.

1779 - The War of Bavarian Succession ended.

1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed eleven ships full of convicts on January 18, 1788, at Botany Bay. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

1821 - The first practical printing press was patented in the U.S. by Samuel Rust.

1846 - The U.S. declared that war already existed with Mexico.

1854 - The first big American billiards match was held at Malcolm Hall in Syracuse, NY.

1861 - Britain declared its neutrality in the American Civil War.

1864 - The Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta during the American Civil War.

1865 - The last land engagement of the American Civil War was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, VA.

1867 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.

1873 - Ludwig M. Wolf patented the sewing machine lamp holder.

1880 - Thomas Edison tested his experimental electric railway in Menlo Park.

1888 - Slavery was abolished in Brazil.

1911 - The New York Giants set a major league baseball record. Ten runners crossed home plate before the first out of the game against St. Louis.

1912 - Royal Flying Corps was established in England.

1913 - Igor Sikorsky flew the first four engine aircraft.

1917 - Three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

1918 - The first airmail postage stamps were issued with airplanes on them. The denominations were 6, 16, and 24 cents.

1926 - In Warsaw, Joseph Pilsudski had President Wojciechowski arrested.

1927 - "Black Friday" occurred in Germany.

1940 - Winston Churchill made his first speech as the prime minister of Britain.

1949 - The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.

1954 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.

1958 - French troops took control of Algiers.

1958 - U.S. Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.

1967 - Mickey Mantle hit his 500th homerun.

1968 - Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris.

1975 - Hailstones the size of tennis balls hit Wenerville, TN.

1981 - Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

1982 - The Chicago Cubs became the first major league baseball team to win 8,000 games.

1985 - Tony Perez became the oldest major league baseball player to hit a grand slam home run at the age of 42 and 11 months.

1985 - A confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group's headquarters. 11 people died in the fire that resulted.

1996 - In Bangladesh 600 people were killed by a tornado.

1998 - India did a second round of nuclear tests. The first round had been done 2 days earlier. Within hours the U.S. and Japan imposed tough economic sanctions. India claimed that the tests were necessary to maintain India's national security.

1999 - In Moscow, the impeachment of Russian President Boris Yeltsin began.


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Posted

1264 - King Henry III was captured by his brother in law Simon deMontfort at the Battle of Lewes in France.

1509 - In the Battle of Agnadello, French defeated Venitians in Northern Italy.

1610 - French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) was assassinated by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac.

1643 - Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

1727 - Thomas Gainsborough was born. He was an English painter.

1787 - Delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution.

1796 - The first smallpox vaccination was given by Edward Jenner.

1804 - William Clark set off the famous expedition from Camp Dubois. A few days later, in St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis joined the group. The group was known as the "Corps of Discovery."

1811 - Paraguay gained independence from Spain.

1853 - Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.

1862 - The chronograph was patented by Adolphe Nicole.

1874 - McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college football game to charge admission.

1878 - The name Vaseline was registered by Robert A. Chesebrough.

1879 - Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Telephone Company of Europe.

1897 - "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.

1897 - Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.

1904 - In St. Louis, the Olympic games were held. It was the first time for the games to be played in the U.S.

1913 - The Rockefeller Foundation was created by John D. Rockefeller with a gift of $100,000,000.

1935 - The Philippines ratified an independence agreement.

1940 - The Netherlands surrendered to Nazi Germany.

1942 - The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) was established by an act of the U.S. Congress.

1942 - "Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland was performed for the first time by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

1942 - The British, while retreating from Burma, reached India.

1948 - Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independent State of Israel as British rule in Palestine came to an end.

1955 - The Warsaw Pact, a Easter European mutual-defense treaty, was signed in Poland by eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union.

1961 - A bus carrying Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama.

1969 - Jacqueline Susann’s second novel, "The Love Machine," was published by Simon and Schuster.

1973 - Skylab One was launched into orbit around Earth as the first U.S. manned space station.

1975 - U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia. About 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation.

1980 - U.S. President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.

1985 - The first McDonald's restaurant became the first fast-food business museum. It is located in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1988 - In the Andean village of Cayara, Peru's military was involved in a massacre of at least 26 peasants.

1992 - Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill to aid the people of the former Soviet Union.

1996 - A tornado hit 80 villages in nothern Bangladesh. More than 440 people were killed.

1998 - The Associated Press marked its 150th anniversary.

1998 - The final episode of the TV series "Seinfeld" aired after nine years on NBC.

1999 - North Korea returned the remains of six U.S. soldiers that had been killed during the Korean War.

1999 - Jess Marlow received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2005 - The art exhibit "Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years" opened at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, CA.

Posted

1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold.

1614 - An aristocratic uprising in France ended with the treaty of St.Menehould.

1618 - Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.

1702 - The War of Spanish Succession began.

1768 - Under the Treaty of Versailles, France purchased Corsica from Genoa.

1795 - Napoleon entered the Lombardian capital of Milan.

1849 - Neapolitan troops entered Palermo, and were in possession of Sicily.

1856 - Lyman Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," was born.

1862 - The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1911 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1916 - U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.

1918 - Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.

1926 - Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to form on the dirigible Norge.

1926 - The New York Rangers were officially granted a franchise in the NHL. The NHL also announced that Chicago and Detroit would be joining the league in November.

1930 - Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess.

1940 - Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.

1941 - Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.

1942 - Gasoline rationing began in the U.S. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.

1948 - Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence.

1951 - AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.

1957 - Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.

1958 - Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union.

1963 - The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.

1964 - The Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1970 - U.S. President Nixon appointed America's first two female generals.

1970 - Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.

1972 - Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.

1975 - The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.

1980 - The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.

1983 - In Boston,MA, the Madison Hotel was destroyed by implosion.

1988 - The Soviet Union began their withdrawal of its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years.

1990 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" was sold for $82.5 million. The sale set a new world record.

1997 - The Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia's orbiting Mir station.

1999 - The Russian parliament was unable a attain enough votes to impeach President Boris Yeltsin.

Posted

1770 - Marie Antoinette, at age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

1866 - The U.S. Congress authorized the first 5-cent piece to be minted.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted during the Senate impeachment, by one vote.

1879 - The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England set up the Afghan state.

1881 - In Germany the first electric tram for the public started service.

1888 - The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.

1888 - The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.

1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1914 - The American Horseshoe Pitchers Association (AHPA) was formed in Kansas City, Kansas.

1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.

1929 - The first Academy Awards were held in Hollywood.

1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League.

1946 - "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.

1946 - jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.

1948 - The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he'd disappeared.

1960 - A Big Four summit in Paris collapsed due to the American U-2 spy plane incident.

1960 - Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratory in California, demonstrated the first working laser.

1963 - After 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, ending Project Mercury.

1965 - Spaghetti-O's went on sale.

1969 - Venus 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus.

1971 - U.S. postage for a one-ounce first class stamp was increased from 6 to 8 cents.

1975 - Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1977 - Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.

1985 - Michael Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the NBA.

1987 - The Bobro 400 set sail from New York Harbor with 3,200 tons of garbage. The barge travelled 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load. It returned to New York Harbor after 8 weeks with the same load.

1988 - A report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive in similar was as heroin and cocaine.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.

1991 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1992 - The Endeavour space shuttle landed safely after its maiden voyage.

1996 - Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.

1997 - In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko gave control of the country to rebel forces ending 32 years of autocratic rule.

2000 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.

2003 - Adam Rich was placed on three years probation after he pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was also ordered to take part ina 60-day treatment program and pay about $1,200 in fines.

2005 - Sony Corp. unveiled three styles of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine.

Posted

1540 - Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.

1630 - Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi saw the belts on Jupiter's surface.

1681 - Louis XIV sent an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France.

1756 - Britain declared war on France, beginning the French and Indian War.

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was founded at 70 Wall Street by 24 brokers.

1814 - Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. Norway's constitution, which provided a limited monarchy, was signed.

1875 - The first Kentucky Derby was run at Louisville, KY.

1877 - The first telephone switchboard burglar alarm was installed by Edwin T. Holmes.

1881 - Frederick Douglass was appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, DC.

1926 - The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires was damaged by bombs that were believed set by sympathizers of Sacco and Vanzetti.

1932 - The U.S. Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico."

1939 - The first fashion to be shown on television was broadcast in New York from the Ritz-Carleton Hotel.

1940 - Germany occupied Brussels, Belgium and began the invasion of France.

1946 - U.S. President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

1948 - The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.

1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling declared that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal.

1956 - The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale in Caldwell Township, NJ.

1973 - The U.S. Senate Watergate Committee began its hearings.

1975 - NBC TV bought the rights to show "Gone With the Wind." The one time rights cost NBC $5,000,000.

1980 - Rioting erupted in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. Eight people were killed in the rioting.

1985 - Bobby Ewing died on the season finale of "Dallas" on CBS-TV. He returned the following season.

1987 - Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter with 29.

1987 - An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 American sailors. Iraq and the United States called the attack a mistake.

1990 - Kelsey Grammer was sentenced to 30 days in jail for DWI.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan's Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994.

1997 - Rebel leader Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

1997 - Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin were married in London.

1998 - New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.

1999 - Eric Ford, a tabloid photographer, was sentenced to 6 months at a halfway house, 3 years probation and 150 hours of community service. The sentence stemmed from a charge that Ford had eavesdropped on a call between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and then sold a recording of the conversation.

1999 - Alex Trebek received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and David Luker surrendered to police in Birmingham, AL. The two former Ku Klux Klan members were arrested on charges from the bombing of a church in 1963 that killed four young black girls.

2000 - Austria, the U.S. and six other countries agreed on the broad outline of a plan that would compensate Nazi-Era forced labor.

2000 - It was announced that Terra Networks SA and Lycos would be merging with the new name to be Terra Lycos. Terra made the deal happen with the purchase of $12.5 billion in stock.

2001 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp based on Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip.

2006 - The U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. It was the first vessel sunk under a Navy program to dispose of old warships by turning them into diving attractions. It was the largest man-made reef at the time of the sinking.

2007 - Trains crossed the border dividing North and South Korea for the first time since 1953.


Posted

1302 - The weaver Peter de Coningk led a massacre of the Flemish oligarchs.

1642 - Montreal, Canada, was founded.

1643 - Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, was granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.

1652 - In Rhode Island, a law was passed that made slavery illegal in North America. It was the first law of its kind.

1792 - Russian troops invaded Poland.

1798 - The first Secretary of the U.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.

1802 - Great Britain declared war on Napoleon's France.

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor by the French Senate.

1828 - Battle of Las Piedras ended the conflict between Uruguay and Brazil.

1896 - The U.S. Supreme court upheld the "separate but equal" policy in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. The ruling was overturned 58 years later with Brown vs. Board of Education.

1897 - A public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel, "Dracula, or, The Un-dead," was performed in London.

1904 - Brigand Raizuli kidnapped American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.

1917 - The U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service act, which called up soldiers to fight in World War I.

1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, CA. She reappeared a month later with the claim that she had been kidnapped.

1931 - Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashed his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He was picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.

1933 - The Tennessee Valley Authority was created.

1934 - The U.S. Congress approved an act, known as the "Lindberg Act," that called for the death penalty in interstate kidnapping cases.

1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.

1944 - Monte Cassino, Europe's oldest Monastic house, was finally captured by the Allies in Italy.

1949 - Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was incorporated

1951 - The United Nations moved its headquarters to New York City.

1953 - The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.

1974 - India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.

1980 - Mt. Saint Helens erupted in Washington state. 57 people were killed and 3 billion in damage was done.

1983 - The U.S. Senate revised immigration laws and gave millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program.

1994 - Israel's three decades of occupation in the Gaza Strip ended as Israeli troops completed their withdrawal and Palestinian authorities took over.

1998 - The U.S. federal government and 20 states filed a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., saying the computer software company had a "choke hold" on competitors which denied consumer choices by controlling 90% of the software market.

1998 - U.S. federal officials arrested more than 130 people and seized $35 million. This was the end to an investigation of money laundering being done by a dozen Mexican banks and two drug-smuggling cartels.

Posted

1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail for North America.

1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was beheaded after she was convicted of adultery.

1568 - After being defeated by the Protestants, Mary the Queen of Scots, fled to England where she was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth.

1588 - The Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon, bound for England.

1608 - The Protestant states formed the Evangelical Union of Lutherans and Calvinists.

1643 - Delegates from four New England colonies met in Boston to form a confederation.

1643 - The French army defeated a Spanish army at Rocroi, France.

1796 - The first U.S. game law was approved. The measure called for penalties for hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.

1847 - The first English-style railroad coach was placed in service on the Fall River Line in Massachusetts.

1856 - U.S. Senator Charles Sumner spoke out against slavery.

1857 - The electric fire alarm system was patented by William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer.

1858 - A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hameton executed unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.

1864 - The Union and Confederate armies launched their last attacks against each other at Spotsylvania in Virginia.

1906 - The Federated Boys' Clubs, forerunner of the Boys' Clubs of America, were organized.

1911 - The first American criminal conviction that was based on fingerprint evidence occurred in New York City.

1912 - The Associated Advertising Clubs of America held its first convention in Dallas, TX.

1921 - The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which established national quotas for immigrants.

1926 - Thomas Edison spoke on the radio for the first time.

1926 - Benito Mussolini announced that democracy was deceased. Rome became a fascist state.

1926 - In Damascus, Syria, French shells killed 600 people.

1928 - The first frog-jumping jubilee held in Calaveras County, CA.

1935 - T.E. Lawrence "Lawrence of Arabia" died from injuries in a motorcycle crash in England.

1935 - The National Football League (NFL) adopted an annual college draft to begin in 1936.

1943 - Winston Churchill told the U.S. Congress that his country was pledging their full support in the war against Japan.

1958 - Canada and the U.S. formally established the North American Air Defense Command.

1962 - Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The event was a fund-raiser at New York's Madison Square Garden.

1964 - The U.S. State Department reported that diplomats had found about 40 microphones planted in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

1967 - The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain that banned nuclear weapons from outer space.

1967 - U.S. planes bombed Hanoi for the first time.

1988 - In Jacksonville, FL, Carlos Lehder Rivas was convicted of smuggling more than three tons of cocaine into the United States. Rivas was the co-founder of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel.

1989 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average passed 2,500 for the first time. The close for the day was 2,501.1.

1992 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown" for having its title character decide to bear a child out of wedlock.

1992 - In Massapequa, NY, Mary Jo Buttafuoco was shot and seriously wounded by Amy Fisher. Fisher was her husband Joey's teen-age lover.

1992 - The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. The amendment prohibits Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises.

1993 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed about 3,500 (3,500.03) for the first time.

1998 - In Russia, strikes broke out over unpaid wages.

1998 - Bandits stole three of Rome's most important paintings from the National Gallery of Modern Art.

1999 - "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" was released in the U.S. It set a new record for opening day sales at 28.5 million.

1999 - Rosie O'Donnell and Tom Selleck got into an uncomfortable verbal issue concerning gun control on O'Donnell's talk show.

2000 - The bones of the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton went on display in Chicago.

2000 - Disney released the movie "Dinosaur."

Disney movies, music and books

2003 - It was announced that Worldcom Inc. would pay investors $500 million to settle civil fraud charges over its $11 billion accounting scandal.

2003 - Hundreds of Albert Einstein's scientific papers, personal letters and humanist essays were make available on the Internet. Einstein had given the papers to the Hebrew Universtiy of Jerusalem in his will.

2005 - "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" brought in 50.0 million in its opening day.

Posted

0325 - The Ecumenical council was inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea, Asia Minor.

1303 - A peace treaty was signed between England and France over the town of Gascony.

1347 - Cola di Rienzo took the title of tribune in Rome.

1506 - In Spain, Christopher Columbus died in poverty.

1520 - Hernando Cortez defeated Spanish troops that had been sent to punish him in Mexico.

1690 - England passed the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II.

1674 - John Sobieski became Poland’s first King.

1774 - Britain's Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the American colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior

1775 - North Carolina became the first colony to declare its independence.

1784 - The Peace of Versailles ended a war between France, England, and Holland.

1830 - The fountain pen was patented by H.D. Hyde.

1861 - North Carolina became the eleventh state to secede from the Union.

1861 - During the American Civil War, the capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery, AL, to Richmond, VA.

1874 - Levi Strauss began marketing blue jeans with copper rivets.

1875 - The International Bureau of Weights and Measures was established.

1899 - Jacob German of New York City became the first driver to be arrested for speeding. The posted speed limit was 12 miles per hour.

1902 - The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ended.

1902 - Cuba gained its independence from Spain.

1916 - Norman Rockwell’s first cover on "The Saturday Evening Post" appeared.

1926 - The U.S. Congress passed the Air Commerce Act. The act gave the Department of Commerce the right to license pilots and planes.

1927 - Charles Lindbergh took off from New York to cross the Atlantic for Paris aboard his airplane the "Spirit of St. Louis." The trip took 33 1/2 hours.

1930 - The first airplane was catapulted from a dirigible.

1932 - Amelia Earhart took off to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She became the first woman to achieve the feat.

1933 - "Charlie Chan" was heard for the final time on the NBC Blue radio network, after only six months on the air.

1939 - The first telecast over telephone wires was sent from Madison Square Garden to the NBC-TV studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The event was a bicycle race.

1939 - The first regular air-passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean began with the take-off of the "Yankee Clipper" from Port Washington, New York.

1941 - Germany invaded Crete by air.

1942 - Japan completed the conquest of Burma.

1961 - A white mob attacked the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, AL. The event prompted the federal government to send U.S. marshals.

1969 - U.S. and South Vietnamese forces captured Apbia Mountain, which was referred to as Hamburger Hill.

1970 - 100,000 people marched in New York supporting U.S. policies in Vietnam.

1978 - Mavis Hutchinson, at age 53, became the first woman to run across America. It took Hutchinson 69 days to run the 3,000 miles.

1980 - The submarine Nautilus was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

1982 - TV’s "Barney Miller" was seen for the last time on ABC-TV.

1985 - The Dow Jones industrial average broke the 1300 mark for the first time. The Dow closed at 1304.88.

1985 - The FBI arrested U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer John Walker. Walker had begun spying for the Soviet Union in 1968.

1985 - Radio Marti was launched.

1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs.

1993 - The final episode of "Cheers" was aired on NBC-TV.

1996 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Colorado measure banning laws that would protect homosexuals from discrimination.

1999 - At Heritage High School in Conyers, GA, a 15-year-old student shot and injured six students. He then surrendered to an assistant principal at the school.

2010 - Scientists announced that they had created a funtional synthetic genome.

2010 - Five paintings worth 100 million Euro were stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Posted

0996 - Sixteen year old Otto III was crowned the Roman Emperor.

1471 - King Henry VI was killed in the tower of London. Edward IV took the throne.

1536 - The Reformation was officially adopted in Geneva, Switzerland.

1542 - Hernando de Soto died along the Mississippi River while searching for gold.

1602 - Martha's Vineyard was first sighted by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.

1688 - The English poet Alexander Pope was born.

1790 - Paris was divided into 48 zones.

1819 - Bicycles were first seen in the U.S. in New York City. They were originally known as "swift walkers."

1832 - In the U.S., the Democratic Party held its first national convention.

1840 - New Zealand was declared a British colony.

1856 - Lawrence, Kansas was captured by pro-slavery forces.

1863 - The siege of the Confederate Port Hudson, LA, began.

1881 - The American branch of the Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton.

1881 - The United States Lawn Tennis Association was formed in New York City.

1891 - Peter Jackson and Jim Corbett fought for 61 rounds only to end in a draw.

1906 - Louis H. Perlman received his patent for the demountable tire-carrying rim.

1922 - The cartoon, "On the Road to Moscow," by Rollin Kirby won a Pulitzer Prize. It was the first cartoon awarded the Pulitzer.

1924 - Fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered in a "thrill killing" committed by Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb. The killers were students at the University of Chicago.

1927 - Charles A. Lindberg completed the first solo nonstop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip began May 20.

1929 - The first automatic electric stock quotation board was used by Sutro and Company of New York City.

1934 - Oskaloosa, IA, became the first city in the U.S. to fingerprint all of its citizens.

1941 - The first U.S. ship, the SS Robin Moor, was sunk by a U-boat.

1945 - Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married.

1947 - Joe DiMaggio and five of his New York Yankee teammates were fined $100 because they had not fulfilled contract requirements to do promotional duties for the team.

1956 - The U.S. exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean over Bikini Atoll.

1961 - Governor Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery, AL.

1968 - The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, was last heard from. The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

1970 - The National Guard was mobilized to quell disturbances at Ohio State University.

1980 - The movie "The Empire Strikes Back" was released.

1982 - The British landed in the Falkland Islands and fighting began.

1991 - In Madras, India, the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a bouquet of flowers that contained a bomb.

1998 - An expelled student, Kipland Kinkel, in Springfield, OR, killed 2 people and wounded 25 others with a semi-automatic rifle. Police also discovered that the boy had killed his parents before the rampage.

1998 - Microsoft and Sega announced that they are collaborating on a home video game system.

1998 - In Miami, FL, five abortion clinics were hit by an butyric acid-attacker.

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1246 - Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.

1455 - King Henry VI was taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, during the War of the Roses.

1570 - Abraham Ortelius published the first modern atlas in Belgium.

1761 - In Philadelphia, the first life insurance policy was issued in the U.S.

1819 - The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

1841 - Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.

1849 - Abraham Lincoln received a patent for the floating dry dock.

1859 - The creator of "Sherlock Holmes," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born.

1868 - Near Marshfield, IN, The "Great Train Robbery" took place. The robbery was worth $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds to the seven members of the Reno gang.

1872 - The Amnesty Act restored civil rights to Southerners.

1882 - The U.S. formally recognized Korea.

1891 - The first public motion picture was given in Thomas Edison's lab.

1892 - Dr. Sheffield, a British dentist, invented the toothpaste tube.

1900 - The Associated Press was incorporated as a non-profit news cooperative in New York.

1900 - A. DeVilbiss, Jr. patented his pendulum-type computing scale.

1900 - Edwin S. Votey received a patent for the pianola (a pneumatic piano player). It could be attached to any piano.

1908 - The Wright brothers registered their flying machine for a U.S. patent.

1939 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the "Pact of Steel."

1947 - The Truman Doctrine was enacted by the U.S. Congress to appropriate military and economic aid Turkey and Greece.

1955 - A scheduled dance to be headlined by Fats Domino was canceled by police in Bridgeport, Connecticut because "rock and roll dances might be featured."

1955 - jack Benny did his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. He devoted his time fully to TV.

1967 - "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" premiered on PBS.

1967 - The final "To Tell the Truth" program was seen on CBS-TV.

1969 - A lunar module of Apollo 10 flew within nine miles of the moon's surface. The event was a rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

1972 - U.S. President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Russia. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

1972 - The island Ceylon adopted a new constitution and became the republic of Sri Lanka.

1977 - Janet Guthrie set the fastest time of the second weekend of qualifying, becoming the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 since its inception in 1911.

1985 - Pete Rose passed Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108.

1986 - Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists. He signed for a reported $15 million for each film.

1990 - In the Middle East, North and South Yemen merged to become a single state known as the Republic of Yemen.

1990 - Microsoft released Windows 3.0.

1992 - Johnny Carson hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time. He had been host for 30 years.

1997 - Kelly Flinn, the U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge. She thereby avoided court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order.

1998 - Bolivia was hit with a series of powerful earthquakes. At least 18 were killed. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8.

1998 - New information came to light about the June 1996 bombing that killed 19 American airmen. The information indicated that Saudi citizens had been responsible and not Iranians as once believed.

1998 - A federal judge said that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury in Monica Lewinsky investigation concerning U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out to cast ballots giving approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.

2002 - Chandra Levy's remains were found in Washington, DC's Rock Creek Park. She was last seen on April 30, 2001. California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.

2002 - In Birmingham, AL, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder in the 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.

2002 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 583rd career home run. He tied Mark McGwire for fifth on the all-time list.

2003 - At the Colonial in Fort Worth, TX, Annika Sorentam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years. She ended the day at 1-over par.

Posted

1430 - Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundians. She was then sold to the English.

1533 - Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.

1618 - The Thirty Years War began when three opponents of the Reformation were thrown through a window.

1701 - In London, Captain William Kidd was hanged after being convicted of murder and piracy.

1785 - Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that he had invented bifocals.

1788 - South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify U.S. Constitution.

1827 - The first nursery school in the U.S. was established in New York City.

1846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) was born. She was the first woman in the U.S. to pass the bar exam, though she never used her law degree.

1873 - Canada's North West Mounted Police force was established. The organization's name was changed to Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

1876 - Boston’s Joe Borden pitched the very first no-hitter in the history of the National League.

1879 - The first U.S. veterinary school was established by Iowa State University.

1895 - The New York Public Library was created with an agreement that combined the city's existing Astor and Lenox libraries.

1900 - Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.

1901 - American forces captured Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo.

1908 - Part of the Great White Fleet arrived in Puget Sound, WA.

1915 - During World War I, Italy joined the Allies as they declared war on Austria-Hungary.

1922 - The play "Abie's Irish Rose" opened in New York City.

1922 - "Daylight Saving Time" was debated in the first debate ever to be heard on radio in Washington, DC.

1926 - The French captured the Moroccan Rif capital.

1934 - In Bienville Parish, LA, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed by Texas Rangers. The bank robbers were riding in a stolen Ford Deluxe.

1937 - Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died.

1938 - "LIFE" magazine’s cover pictured Errol Flynn as a glamour boy.

1945 - In Luneburg Germany, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, committed suicide while imprisoned by the Allied forces.

1949 - The Republic of West Germany was established.

1960 - Israel announced the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

1962 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) agreed to transfer the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, CA. The team became the San Francisco Warriors (and later the Golden State Warriors).

1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees set a major league baseball record by hitting two home runs in one inning.

1981 - In Barcelona, Spain, gunmen seized control of the Central Bank and took 200 hostages.

1985 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh was sentenced to life in prison for trying to sell Stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.

1992 - In Lisbon, Portugal , the U.S. and four former Soviet republics signed an agreement to implement the START missile reduction treaty that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union before it was dissolved.

1994 - "Pulp Fiction" won the "Golden Palm" for best film at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.

1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished.

1998 - British Protestants and Irish Catholics of Northern Ireland approved a peace accord.

1999 - In Kansas City, MO, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) died when he fell 90 feet while being lowered into a WWF wrestling ring. He was 33 years old.

1999 - Gerry Bloch, at age 81, became the oldest climber to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He broke his own record that he set in 1986 when he was 68 years old.

Posted

1430 - Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundians. She was then sold to the English.

1533 - Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.

1618 - The Thirty Years War began when three opponents of the Reformation were thrown through a window.

1701 - In London, Captain William Kidd was hanged after being convicted of murder and piracy.

1785 - Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that he had invented bifocals.

1788 - South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify U.S. Constitution.

1827 - The first nursery school in the U.S. was established in New York City.

1846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) was born. She was the first woman in the U.S. to pass the bar exam, though she never used her law degree.

1873 - Canada's North West Mounted Police force was established. The organization's name was changed to Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

1876 - Boston’s Joe Borden pitched the very first no-hitter in the history of the National League.

1879 - The first U.S. veterinary school was established by Iowa State University.

1895 - The New York Public Library was created with an agreement that combined the city's existing Astor and Lenox libraries.

1900 - Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.

1901 - American forces captured Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo.

1908 - Part of the Great White Fleet arrived in Puget Sound, WA.

1915 - During World War I, Italy joined the Allies as they declared war on Austria-Hungary.

1922 - The play "Abie's Irish Rose" opened in New York City.

1922 - "Daylight Saving Time" was debated in the first debate ever to be heard on radio in Washington, DC.

1926 - The French captured the Moroccan Rif capital.

1934 - In Bienville Parish, LA, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed by Texas Rangers. The bank robbers were riding in a stolen Ford Deluxe.

1937 - Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died.

1938 - "LIFE" magazine’s cover pictured Errol Flynn as a glamour boy.

1945 - In Luneburg Germany, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, committed suicide while imprisoned by the Allied forces.

1949 - The Republic of West Germany was established.

1960 - Israel announced the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

1962 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) agreed to transfer the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, CA. The team became the San Francisco Warriors (and later the Golden State Warriors).

1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees set a major league baseball record by hitting two home runs in one inning.

1981 - In Barcelona, Spain, gunmen seized control of the Central Bank and took 200 hostages.

1985 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh was sentenced to life in prison for trying to sell Stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.

1992 - In Lisbon, Portugal , the U.S. and four former Soviet republics signed an agreement to implement the START missile reduction treaty that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union before it was dissolved.

1994 - "Pulp Fiction" won the "Golden Palm" for best film at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.

1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished.

1998 - British Protestants and Irish Catholics of Northern Ireland approved a peace accord.

1999 - In Kansas City, MO, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) died when he fell 90 feet while being lowered into a WWF wrestling ring. He was 33 years old.

1999 - Gerry Bloch, at age 81, became the oldest climber to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He broke his own record that he set in 1986 when he was 68 years old.

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585 BC - The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.

1085 - Alfonso VI took Toledo, Spain from the Moslems.

1787 - The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding.

1810 - Argentina declared independence from Napoleonic Spain.

1844 - The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.

1844 - The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore "Patriot."

1895 - Oscar Wilde, a playwright, poet and novelist, was convicted of a morals charge and sentenced to prison in London.

1895 - James P. Lee first published "Gold in America -- A Practical Manual."

1911 - President of Mexico, Porfolio Diaz, resigned his office.

1925 - John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in school.

1927 - Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.

1927 - The "Movietone News" was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.

1935 - Babe Ruth hit his final homerun, his 714th, and set a record that would stand for 39 years.

1935 - Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100-yard dash. He ran it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.

1946 - Jordan gained independence from Britain.

1953 - In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.

1961 - America was asked by U.S. President Kennedy to work toward putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

1963 - The Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1968 - The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.

1970 - Boeing Computer Services was founded.

1977 - "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" opened and became the largest grossing film to date.

1977 - An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in "The Washington Post." The article called for a national memorial to "remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons" that had served in the Vietnam War.

1979 - An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed.

1981 - Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago's Sears Tower, while wearing a "Spiderman" costume, in 7 1/2 hours.

1983 - "The Return of the Jedi" opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.

1985 - Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people.

1986 - Approximately 7 million Americans participated in "Hands Across America."

1989 - The Calgary Flames won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens.

1992 - Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's "Tonight Show."

1996 - In Nimes, France, Christina Sanchez became the first woman to achieve the rank of matadore in Europe.

1997 - In Sierra Leone a military coup overthrew the popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He was replaced with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.

1997 - U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).

1997 - Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.

1999 - A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China concluded that China had "stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons" and that China's penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories "spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today."

2000 - The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a long-term deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner.

2001 - Erik Weihenmeyer, 32, of Golder, CO, became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2001 - Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.

2009 - North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemned the reported test.

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0017 - Germanicus of Rome celebrated his victory over the Germans.

1328 - William of Ockham was forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.

1521 - Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings.

1647 - A new law banned Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty was banishment or death for a second offense.

1660 - King Charles II of England landed at Dover after being exiled for nine years.

1670 - A treaty was signed in secret in Dover, England, between Charles II and Louis XIV ending the hostilities between them.

1691 - Jacob Leiser, leader of the popular uprising in support of William and Mary’s accession to the English throne, was executed for treason.

1736 - The British and Chickasaw Indians defeated the French at the Battle of Ackia.

1791 - The French Assembly forced King Louis XVI to hand over the crown and state assets.

1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.

1831 - Russians defeated the Poles at battle of Ostrolenska.

1835 - A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.

1836 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopted what has been called the Gag Rule.

1864 - The Territory of Montana was organized.

1865 - Arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted, by one vote, of all charges in his impeachment trial.

1896 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average appeared for the first time in the "Wall Street Journal."

1896 - The last czar of Russia, Nicholas II, was crowned.

1908 - In Persia, the first oil strike was made in the Middle East.

1913 - Actors’ Equity Association was organized in New York City.

1926 - In Morocco, rebel leader Abd el Krim surrendered.

1938 - The House Committee on Un-American Activities began its work of searching for subversives in the United States.

1940 - The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.

1946 - A patent was filed in the United States for an H-bomb.

1946 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed a military pact with Russian leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin promised a "close collaboration after the war."

1948 - The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 557 which permanently established the Civil Air Patrol as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.

1956 - The first trailer bank opened for business in Locust Grove, Long Island, NY. The 46-foot-long trailer took in $100,000 in deposits its first day.

1958 - Union Square, San Francisco became a state historical landmark.

1959 - The word "Frisbee" became a registered trademark of Wham-O.

1961 - Civil rights activist group Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee was established in Atlanta, GA.

1961 - A U.S. Air Force bomber flew across the Atlantic in a record time of just over three hours.

1969 - The Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.

1972 - The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) was signed by the U.S. and USSR. The short-term agreement put a freeze on the testing and deployment of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles for a 5-year period.

1973 - Kathy Schmidt set an American women’s javelin record with a throw of 207 feet, 10 inches.

1975 - American stuntman Evel Knievel suffered severe spinal injuries in Britain when he crashed while attempting to jump 13 buses in his car.

1977 - George H. Willig was arrested after he scaled the South Tower of New York's World Trade Center. It took him 3 1/2 hours.

1978 - The first legal casino in the Eastern U.S. opened in Atlantic City, NJ.

1987 - Sri Lanka launched Operation Liberation. It was an offensive against the Tamil rebellion in Jaffra.

1988 - The Edmonton Oilers won their fourth NHL Stanley Cup in five seasons. They swept the series 4 games to 0 against the Boston Bruins.

1991 - A Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced that his administration would no longer link China's trade status with its human rights record.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island was mainly in New Jersey, not New York.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police officers in high-speed chases are liable for bystander injuries only if their "actions shock the conscience."

1998 - The Grand Princess cruise ship made its inaugural cruise. The ship measured 109,000 tons and cost approximately $450 million, making it the largest and most expensive cruise ship ever built.


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1647 - Achsah Young, a resident of Windsor, CT, was executed for being a "witch." It was the first recorded American execution of a "witch."

1668 - Three colonists were expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.

1813 - Americans captured Fort George, Canada.

1896 - 255 people were killed in St. Louis, MO, when a tornado struck.

1901 - The Edison Storage Battery Company was organized.

1907 - The Bubonic Plague broke out in San Francisco.

1919 - A U.S. Navy seaplane completed the first transatlantic flight.

1926 - Bronze figures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were erected in Hannibal, MO.

1929 - Colonel Charles Lindbergh and Anne Spencer Murrow were married.

1931 - Piccard and Knipfer made the first flight into the stratosphere, by balloon.

1933 - Walt Disney's "Three Little Pigs" was first released.

Disney movies, music and books

1933 - In the U.S., the Federal Securities Act was signed. The act required the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

1935 - The U.S. Supreme Court declared that President Franklin Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Act was unconstitutional.

1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic. The bridge connected San Francisco and Marin County.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency" amid rising world tensions.

1941 - The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by British naval and air forces. 2,300 people were killed.

1942 - German General Erwin Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.

1944 - U.S. General MacArthur landed on Biak Island in New Guinea.

1960 - A military coup overthrew the democratic government of Turkey.

1964 - Indian Prime Minister Jawaharla Nehru died.

1968 - After 48 years as coach of the Chicago Bears, George Halas retired.

1969 - Construction of Walt Disney World began in Florida.

1977 - George H. Willig was fined for scaling the World Trade Center in New York on May 26. He was fined $1.10.

1982 - Japan announced the elimination of tariffs on 96 industrial goods.

1985 - In Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.

1986 - Mel Fisher recovered a jar that contained 2,300 emeralds from the Spanish ship Atocha. The ship sank in the 17th century.

1988 - The U.S. Senate ratified the INF treaty. The INF pact was the first arms-control agreement since the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) to receive Senate approval.

1994 - Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia. He had been in exile for two decades.

1995 - In Charlottesville, VA, Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after being thrown from his horse during a jumping event.

1996 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin negotiated a cease-fire to the war in Chechnya in his first meeting with the leader of the rebels.

1997 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sexual harassment suit filed by Paula Jones could continue while President Clinton was in office.

1998 - Charlie Sheen was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles for a drug overdose.

1998 - Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years in prison for not warning anyone about the plot to bomb an Oklahoma City federal building.

1999 - In The Hague, Netherlands, a war crimes tribunal indicted Slobodan Milosevic and four others for atrocities in Kosovo. It was the first time that a sitting head of state had been charged with such a crime.

2010 - Universal Studios reopened its backlot. The area had been destroyed by a fire two years before.

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585 BC - Thales Miletus predicted a solar eclipse.

585BC - The Persian-Lydian battle ended.

1533 - England's Archbishop declared the marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

1774 - The First Continental Congress convened in Virginia.

1805 - Napoleon was crowned in Milan, Italy.

1863 - The first black regiment left Boston to fight in the U.S. Civil War.

1892 - The Sierra club was organized in San Francisco, CA.

1900 - Britain annexed the Orange Free State.

1908 - Ian Fleming, who created the character James Bond, was born.

1918 - Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, declared independence.

1926 - Portuguese General da Costa took over in a coup.

1928 - Chrysler Corporation merged with Dodge Brothers, Inc.

1929 - Warner Brothers debuted "On With The Show" in New York City. It was the first all-color-talking picture.

1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario, to Olivia and Elzire Dionne. The babies were the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1937 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, DC, signaling that vehicular traffic could cross the newly opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

1940 - During World War II, Belgium surrendered to Germany.

1953 - The Walt Disney film "Melody" premiered in the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood. The picture was the first 3-D cartoon.

Disney movies, music and books

1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to Los Angeles and that the New York Giants could move to San Francisco.

1961 - Amnesty International, a human rights organization, was founded.

1976 - The Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty was signed, limiting any nuclear explosion - regardless of its purpose - to a yield of 150 kilotons.

1977 - Fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, KY. 165 people were killed.

1985 - The first issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine went on sale. The issue had a picture of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy smooching on the cover.

1985 - David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers. He was freed 17 months later.

1987 - Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square after evading Soviet air defenses. He was released August 3, 1988.

1995 - An earthquake in the Russian town Neftegorsk killed at least 2000 people. It had a magnitude of 7.5.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal were convicted of fraud.

1998 - Pakistan matched India with five nuclear test blasts. The U.S., Japan and other nations imposed economic sanctions. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said "Today, we have settled the score with India."

1998 - Dr. Susan Terebey discoved a planet outside of our solar system with the use of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

1998 - Phil Hartman was shot to death at his home by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.

1999 - In Milan, Italy, Leonardo de Vinci's "The Last Supper" was put back on display after 22 years of restoration work.

2002 - Russia became a limited partner in NATO with the creation of the NATO-Russia Council.

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1453 - Constantinople fell to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire.

1660 - Charles II was restored to the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth.

1721 - South Carolina was formally incorporated as a royal colony.

1765 - Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses.

1790 - Rhode Island became the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1827 - The first nautical school opened in Nantucket, MA, under the name Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin’s Lancasterian School.

1848 - Wisconsin became the 30th state to join the United States.

1849 - A patent for lifting vessels was granted to Abraham Lincoln.

1910 - An airplane raced a train from Albany, NY, to New York City. The airplane pilot Glenn Curtiss won the $10,000 prize.

1911 - The first running of the Indianapolis 500 took place.

1912 - Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA, for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job.

1916 - The official flag of the president of the United States was adopted.

1916 - U.S. forces invaded Dominican Republic and remained until 1924.

1922 - Ecuador became independent.

1922 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball was a sport, not subject to antitrust laws.

1932 - World War I veterans began arriving in Washington, DC. to demand cash bonuses they were not scheduled to receive for another 13 years.

1951 - C.F. Blair became the first man to fly over the North Pole in single engine plane.

1953 - Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became first men to reach the top of Mount Everest.

1962 - Buck (John) O’Neil became the first black coach in major league baseball when he accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs.

1965 - Ralph Boston set a world record in the broad jump at 27-feet, 4-3/4 inches, at a meet held in Modesto, CA.

1973 - Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon agreed to turn over 1,200 pages of edited Watergate transcripts.

1978 - In the U.S., postage stamps were raised from 13 cents to 15 cents.

1981 - The U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

1985 - Thirty-nine people were killed and 400 were injured in a riot at a European Cup soccer match in Brussels, Belgium.

1986 - Colonel Oliver North told National Security Advisor William McFarlane that profits from weapons sold to Iran were being diverted to the Contras.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan began his first visit to the Soviet Union in Moscow.

1988 - NBC aired "To Heal A Nation," the story of Jan Scruggs' effort to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1990 - Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian republic by the Russian parliament.

1995 - The last 3 bodies were recovered from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

1997 - The ruling party in Indonesia, Golkar, won the Parliament election by a record margin. There was a boycott movement and rioting that killed 200 people.

1999 - Space shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.

2000 - Fiji's military took control of the nation and declared martial law following a coup attempt by indigenous Fijians in mid-May.

2001 - In New York, four followers of Osama bin Laden were convicted of a global conspiracy to murder Americans. The crimes included the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people.

2001 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that disabled golfer Casey Martin could use a cart to ride in tournaments.

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1416 - Jerome of Prague was burned as a heretic by the Church.

1431 - Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, at the age of 19.

1527 - The University of Marburg was founded in Germany.

1539 - Hernando de Soto, the Spanish explorer, landed in Florida with 600 soldiers to search for gold.

1783 - The first daily newspaper was published in the U.S. by Benjamin Towner called "The Pennsylvania Evening Post"

1814 - The First Treaty of Paris was declared, which returned France to its 1792 borders.

1848 - W.G. Young patented the ice cream freezer.

1854 - The U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

1868 - Memorial Day was observed widely for the first time in the U.S.

1879 - William Vanderbilt renamed New York City's Gilmore’s Garden to Madison Square Garden.

1883 - Twelve people were trampled to death in New York City in a stampede when a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing occurred.

1889 - The brassiere was invented.

1896 - The first automobile accident occurred in New York City.

1903 - In Riverdale, NY, the first American motorcycle hill climb was held.

1911 - Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis Sweepstakes. The 500-mile auto race later became known as the Indianapolis 500. Harroun's average speed was 74.59 miles per hour.

1912 - The U.S. Marines were sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.

1913 - The First Balkan War ended.

1921 - The U.S. Navy transferred the Teapot Dome oil reserves to the Department of the Interior.

1922 - The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

1933 - Sally Rand introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition.

1943 - American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.

1958 - Unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflicts were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

1967 - Daredevil Evel Knievel jumped 16 automobiles in a row in a motorcycle stunt at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA.

1967 - The state of Biafra seceded from Nigeria and Civil war erupted.

1971 - Mariner 9, the American deep space probe blasted off on a journey to Mars.

1981 - In Chittagong, Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated.

1982 - Spain became the 16th NATO member. Spain was the first country to enter the Western alliance since West Germany in 1955.

1983 - Peru's President Fernando Belaunde Terry declared a state of emergency and suspended civil rights after bombings by leftist rebels.

1989 - The "Goddess of Democracy" statue (33 feet height) was erected in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

1996 - Britain's Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

1997 - Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, NJ, of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka. The 1994 murder inspired "Megan's Law," requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.

1998 - A powerful earthquake hit northern Afghanistan killing up to 5,000.

2003 - Peter Jennings was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

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1433 - Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome.

1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by the U.S. Congress.

1859 - The Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of Town Ball.

1859 - In London, Big Ben went into operation. The name Big Ben initially referred to the bell inside the tower but later came to the refer to the tower.

1870 - E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt.

1879 - New York's Madison Square Garden opened.

1880 - The first U.S. national bicycle society was formed in Newport, RI. It was known as the League of American Wheelman.

1884 - Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented "flaked cereal."

1889 - In Johnstown, PA, more than 2,200 people died after the South Fork Dam collapsed.

1900 - U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.

1902 - The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging.

1907 - The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in the United States.

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference.

1910 - The Union of South Africa was founded.

1913 - The 17th Amendment went into effect. It provided for popular election of U.S. senators.

1915 - A German zeppelin made an air raid on London.

1926 - Frank Lockhart won the 14th Indy 500. He averaged 95.9 mph.

1927 - Ford Motor Company produced the last "Tin Lizzie" in order to begin production of the Model A.

1929 - In Beverly, MA, the first U.S. born reindeer were born.

1941 - The first issue of the still popular "Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper" went on sale.

1943 - "Archie" was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time.

1947 - Communists seized control of Hungary.

1955 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."

1961 - South Africa became an independent republic.

1962 - Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.

1970 - An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.

1974 - Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.

1977 - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction.

1979 - Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.

1994 - The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

1995 - Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for "the marketing of evil" in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.

2003 - In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.

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1537 - Pope Paul III banned the enslavement of Indians.

1774 - The Quartering Act, which required American colonists to allow British soldiers into their houses, was reenacted.

1793 - Maximillian Robespierre initiated the "Reign of Terror". It was an effort to purge those suspected of treason against the French Republic.

1818 - The British army defeated the Maratha alliance in Bombay, India.

1851 - Maine became the first U.S. state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.

1883 - The first baseball game under electric lights was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1886 - Grover Cleveland became the second U.S. president to get married while in office. He was the first to have a wedding in the White House.

1896 - Guglieimo Marconi's radio was patented in the U.S.

1897 - Mark Twain, at age 61, was quoted by the New York Journal as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration." He was responding to the rumors that he had died.

1910 - Charles Stewart Roll became the first person to fly across the English Channel.

1924 - All American Indians were granted U.S. citizenship by the U.S. Congress.

1928 - Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek captured Peking, China.

1930 - Mrs. M. Niezes of Panama gave birth to the first baby to be born on a ship while passing through the Panama Canal.

1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the first swimming pool to be built inside the White House.

1935 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth announced that he was retiring from baseball.

1937 - "The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy" was broadcast on NBC radio for the first time.

1941 - Lou Gehrig died in New York of the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

1946 - Italians voted by referendum to form a republic instead of a monarchy.

1953 - Elizabeth was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey.

1954 - U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that there were communists working in the CIA and atomic weapons plants.

1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed by CBS-TV.

1966 - Surveyor 1, the U.S. space probe, landed on the moon and started sending photographs back to Earth of the Moon's surface. It was the first soft landing on the Moon.

1969 - The National Arts Center in Canada opened its doors to the public.

1969 - Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne sliced the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half off the shore of South Vietnam.

1979 - Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.

1985 - The R.J. Reynolds Company proposed a major merger with Nabisco that would create a $4.9 billion conglomerate.

1985 - Tommy Sandt was ejected from a major-league baseball game before the national anthem was played. He had complained to the umpire about a call against his team the night before.

1995 - Captain Scott F. O'Grady's U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by Bosnian Serbs. He was rescued six days later.

1997 - Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people were killed.

1998 - Royal Caribbean Cruises agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges of dumping waste at sea.

1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227. The act abolished the state's 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.

1999 - In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) won a major victory. ANC leader Thabo Mbeki was to succeed Nelson Mandela as the nation's president.

2003 - In the U.S., federal regulators voted to allow companies to buy more television stations and newspaper-broadcasting combinations in the same city. The previous ownership restrictions had not been altered since 1975.

2003 - In Seville, Spain, a chest containing the supposed remains of Christopher Columbus were exhumed for DNA tests to determine whether the bones were really those of the explorer. The tests were aimed at determining if Colombus was currently buried in Spain's Seville Cathedral or in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that companies could not be sued under a trademark law for using information in the public domain without giving credit to the originator. The case had originated with 20th Century Fox against suing Dastar Corp. over their use of World War II footage.

2003 - William Baily was reunited with two paintings he had left on a subway platform. One of the works was an original Picasso rendering of two male figures and a recreation of Picasso's "Guernica" by Sophie Matisse. Sophie Matisse was the great-granddaughter of Henri Matisse.

Posted

1098 - Christian Crusaders of the First Crusade seized Antioch, Turkey.

1539 - Hernando De Soto claimed Florida for Spain.

1621 - The Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherlands (now known as New York).

1784 - The U.S. Congress formally created the United States Army to replace the disbanded Continental Army. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress had created the Continental Army for purposes of common defense and this event is considered to be the birth of the United States Army.

1800 - John Adams moved to Washington, DC. He was the first President to live in what later became the capital of the United States.

1805 - A peace treaty between the U.S. and Tripoli was completed in the captain's cabin on board the USS Constitution.

1851 - The New York Knickerbockers became the first baseball team to wear uniforms.

1856 - Cullen Whipple patented the screw machine.

1864 - About 7,000 Union troops were killed within 30 minutes during the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia during the U.S. Civil War.

1871 - Jesse James, then 24, and his gang robbed the Obocock bank in Corydon, Iowa. They stole $15,000.

1888 - "Casey at the Bat" the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published.

1918 - The Finnish Parliament ratified its treaty with Germany.

1923 - In Italy, Benito Mussolini granted women the right to vote.

1928 - Manchurian warlord Chian Tso-Lin died as a result of a bomb blast set off by the Japanese.

1932 - Lou Gehrig set a major league baseball record when he hit four consecutive home runs.

1937 - The Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne, married Wallis Warfield Simpson.

1938 - The German Reich voted to confiscate so-called "degenerate art."

1940 - German bombed Paris, killing 254 people. Most of the people killed were civilians and school children.

1952 - A rebellion by North Korean prisoners in the Koje prison camp in South Korea was put down by American troops.

1959 - The first class graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.

1965 - Edward White became the first American astronaut to do a "space walk" when he left the Gemini 4 capsule.

1968 - Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio by Valerie Solanas.

1970 - Har Gobind Khorana and colleagues announced the first synthesis of a gene from chemical components.

1974 - Charles Colson, an aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, pled guilty to obstruction of justice.

1983 - Gordon Kahl was killed in a gun battle with law enforcement officials near Smithville, AR. Kahl was wanted for the slayings of two U.S. marshals in North Dakota.

1985 - After five years, the characters of Nancy and Chris Hughes returned to CBS-TV's "As the World Turns."

1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died.

1989 - Chinese army troops positioned themselves to began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

1991 - Mount Unzen in southern Japan erupted killing 40 people.

1998 - In Germany, a train veered off its tracks and hit a road bridge. 101 people were killed and 80 were injured.

1999 - Slobodan Milosevic's government accepted an international peace plan concerning Kosovo. NATO announced that airstrikes would continue until 40,000 Serb forces were withdrawn from Kosovo.

1999 - Dennis Muren received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2003 - Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs) broke a bat when he grounded out against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The bat he was using was a corked bat.

2003 - Toys "R" Us, Inc. announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Albertson to become the exclusive toy provider for all of all of Albertson's food and drug store

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1615 - The fortress of Osaka, Japan, fell to shogun Ieyasu after a six month siege.

1647 - The British army seized King Charles I and held him as a hostage.

1674 - Horse racing was prohibited in Massachusetts.

1717 - The Freemasons were founded in London.

1784 - Marie Thible became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon. The flight was 45 minutes long and reached a height of 8,500 feet.

1792 - Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Britain.

1794 - British troops captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

1805 - Tripoli was forced to conclude peace with U.S. after conflicts over tribute.

1812 - The Louisiana Territory had its name changed to the Missouri Territory.

1816 - The Washington was launched at Wheeling, WV. It was the first stately, double-decker steamboat.

1878 - Turkey turned Cyprus over to Britain.

1892 - The Sierra Club was incorporated in San Francisco.

1896 - Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, MI. The vehicle was called a quadricycle.

1911 - Gold was discovered in Alaska's Indian Creek.

1918 - French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France.

1919 - The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill.

1924 - An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I.

1931 - The first rocket-glider flight was made by William Swan in Atlantic City, NJ.

1935 - "Invisible" glass was patented by Gerald Brown and Edward Pollard.

1939 - The first shopping cart was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in Oklahoma City, OK. It was actually a folding chair that had been mounted on wheels.

1940 - The British completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk, France.

1942 - The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific.

1943 - In Argentina, Juan Peron took part in the military coup that overthrew Ramon S. Castillo.

1944 - The U-505 became the first enemy submarine captured by the U.S. Navy.

1944 - During World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, which began the liberation of the Italian capital.

1944 - "Leonidas Witherall" was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

1946 - Juan Peron was installed as Argentina's president.

1947 - The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in labor disputes.

1954 - French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc initialed treaties in Paris giving "complete independence" to Vietnam.

1960 - The Taiwan island of Quemoy was hit by 500 artillery shells fired from the coast of Communist China.

1972 - Angela Davis was found not guilty of murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy.

1974 - The Cleveland Indians had "Ten Cent Beer Night". Due to the drunken and unruly fans the Indians forfeited to the Texas Rangers.

1974 - Sally Murphy became the first woman to qualify as an aviator with the U.S. Army.

1984 - For the first time in 32 years, Arnold Palmer failed to make the cut for the U.S. Open golf tournament.

1985 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law that provided for a daily minute of silence in public schools.

1986 - Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pled guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison.

1986 - The California Supreme Court approved a law that limited the liability of manufacturers and other wealthy defendants. It was known as the "deep pockets law."

1989 - 645 people were killed in the Soviet Union when a gas explosion engulfed two passing trains.

1989 - In Beijing, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square to crush the pro-democracy movement. It is believed that hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were killed.

1992 - The U.S. Postal Service announced that people preferred the "younger Elvis" stamp design in a nationwide vote.

1998 - Terry Nichols received a life sentence for his role in the bombing of an Oklahoma City Federal Building.

1998 - George and Ira Gershwin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - Julius "Dr. J" Erving reported his 19-year-old son, Cory, missing. His body was found on July 6, 2000.

2001 - Nepal's King Dipendra died. Three days earlier, he had reportedly shot and killed most members of the royal family before turning the gun on himself.

2003 - Martha Stewart was indicted on federal charges of using illegal privileged information and then obrstructing an investigation. She resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of her company the same day.

2003 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban "partial birth" abortions with a 282-139 vote.

2003 - Amazon.com announced that it had received more than 1 million orders for the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." The released date was planned for June 21.

2008 - The United Kingdom and Canada became the first countries to be able to buy and rent films at the iTunes Store.

Posted

1595 - Henry IV's army defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise.

1637 - American settlers in New England massacred a Pequot Indian village.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity.

1783 - A hot-air balloon was demonstrated by Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier. It reached a height of 1,500 feet.

1794 - The U.S. Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces.

1827 - Athens fell to the Ottomans.

1851 - Harriet Beecher Stow published the first installment of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in "The National Era."

1865 - The first safe deposit vault was opened in New York. The charge was $1.50 a year for every $1,000 that was stored.

1884 - U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."

1917 - American men began registering for the World War I draft.

1924 - Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmitted the first facsimile message across the Atlantic Ocean.

1927 - Johnny Weissmuller set two world records in swimming events. Weissmuller set marks in the 100-yard, and 200-yard, free-style swimming competition.

1933 - President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard.

1940 - During World War II, the Battle of France began when Germany began an offensive in Southern France.

1942 - In France, Pierre Laval congratulated French volunteers that were fighting in the U.S.S.R. with Germans.

1944 - The first B-29 bombing raid hit the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand.

1946 - The first medical sponges were first offered for sale in Detroit, MI.

1947 - U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined the Marshall Plan.

1956 - Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounced Josef Stalin to the Soviet Communist Party Congress.

1967 - The National Hockey League (NHL) awarded three new franchises. The Minnesota North Stars (later the Dallas Stars), the California Golden Seals (no longer in existence) and the Los Angeles Kings.

1967 - The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan began.

1968 - U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was mortally shot in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy died early the next morning.

1973 - The first hole-in-one in the British Amateur golf championship was made by Jim Crowford.

1975 - Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.

1981 - In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five men in Los Angeles were suffering from a rare pneumonia found in patients with weakened immune systems. They were the first recognized cases of what came to be known as AIDS.

1986 - A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald W. Pelton of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Pelton was sentenced to three life prison terms plus 10 years.

1987 - Ted Koppel and guests discussed the topic of AIDS for four hours on ABC-TV’s "Nightline".

1994 - An earthquake in East Java killed 264 people.

1998 - A strike began at a General Motors Corp. parts factory near Detroit, MI, that closed five assembly plants and idled workers across the U.S. for seven weeks.

1998 - Volkswagen AG won approval to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $700 million, outbidding BMW's $554 million offer.

1998 - C-Span reported that Bob Hope had died. The report was false and had begun with an inaccurate obituary on the Associated Press Web site.

1998 - A strike at a General Motors parts factory began. It lasted for seven weeks.

2001 - Amazon.com announced that it would begin selling personal computers later in the year.

2004 - The U.S.S. Jimmy Carter was christened in the U.S. Navy in Groton, CT.

Posted

1674 - Sivaji crowned himself King of India.

1813 - The U.S. invasion of Canada was halted at Stony Creek, Ontario.

1833 - Andrew Jackson became the first U.S. president to ride in a train. It was a B&O passenger train.

1844 - The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London.

1865 - Confederate raider Wiliam Quantrill died from shot in the back that he received while escaping from a Union patrol near Taylorsville, KY.

1882 - The first electric iron was patented by H.W. Seely.

1890 - The United States Polo Association was formed in New York City, NY.

1904 - The National Tuberculosis Association was formed in Atlantic City, NJ.

1924 - The German Reichtag accepted the Dawes Plan. It was an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts.

1925 - Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.

1932 - In the U.S., the first federal tax on gasoline went into effect. It was a penny per gallon.

1933 - In Camden, NJ, the first drive-in movie theater opened.

1934 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Securities Exchange Act, which established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

1936 - The first helicopter was tested in a building in Berlin, Germany.

1941 - The U.S. government authorized the seizure of foreign ships in U.S. ports.

1942 - The first nylon parachute jump was made by Adeline Gray in Hartford, CT.

1942 - Japanese forces retreated in the World War II Battle of Midway. The battle had begun on June 4.

1944 - The D-Day invasion of Europe took place on the beaches of Normandy, France. 400,000 Allied American, British and Canadian troops were involved.

1946 - The Basketball Association of America was formed in New York City, NY.

1966 - James Meridith was shot and wounded while on a solo march in Mississippi to promote voter registration among blacks.

1968 - U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at 1:44am in Los Angeles after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy was was shot the evening before while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1971 - "The Ed Sullivan Show" aired for the last time. It was canceled after 23 years on the air. Gladys Knight and the Pips were the musical guests on show.

1978 - "20/20" debuted on ABC.

1982 - Israel invaded southern Lebanon in an effort to drive PLO guerrillas out of Beirut.

1985 - The body of Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele was located and exhumed near Sao Paolo, Brazil. Mengele was known as the "Angel of Death."

1985 - The U.S. Senate authorized nonmilitary aid to the Contras. The vote authorized $38 million over two years.

1993 - Mongolia held its first direct presidential elections.

2001 - U.S. District Court Judge Matsch rejected a request to delay the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The date was left at June 11.

2005 - The United States Supreme Court ruled that federal authorities could prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana on doctor's orders. The ruling concluded that state medical marijuana laws did not protect uses from the federal ban on the drug.

Posted

1494 - Spain and Portugal divided the new lands they had discovered between themselves.

1498 - Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration.

1546 - Peace of Ardes ended the war between France and England.

1654 - Louis XIV was crowned king of France.

1712 - The Pennsylvania Assembly banned the importation of slaves.

1775 - The United Colonies changed their name to the United States.

1776 - Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.

1863 - Mexico City was captured by French troops.

1892 - J.F. Palmer patented the cord bicycle tire.

1892 - John Joseph Doyle became the first pinch-hitter in baseball when he was used in a game.

1900 - Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.

1903 - Professor Pierre Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium.

1909 - Mary Pickford made her motion picture debut in "The Violin Maker of Cremona."

1929 - The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

1932 - Over 7,000 war veterans marched on Washington, DC, demanding their bonuses.

1935 - Pierre Laval received emergency powers to save the franc.

1937 - The cover of "LIFE" magazine showed the latest in campus fashions of the times, which included saddle shoes.

1939 - King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the U.S. It was the first visit to the U.S. by a reigning British monarch.

1942 - The Battle of Midway ended. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.

1942 - Japan landed troops on the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. The U.S. invaded and recaptured the Alutians one year later.

1944 - Off of the coast of Normandy, France, the Susan B. Anthony sank. All 2,689 people aboard survived.

1948 - The Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia.

1955 - "The $64,000 Question" premiered.

1966 - Sony Corporation unveiled its brand new consumer home videotape recorder. The black and white only unit sold for $995.

1965 - In the U.S., the Gemini 4 mission was completed. The mission featured the first spacewalk by an American.

1968 - In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.

1976 - "The NBC Nightly News", with John Chancellor and David Brinkley, aired for the first time.

1981 - Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.

1983 - The U.S. ordered Nicaragua to close all six of its consulates and informed 21 Nicaraguan consular officials that they could not longer remain in the U.S.

1993 - Woody Allen lost his custody battle against Mia Farrow.

1994 - The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared the RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST) salvor-in-possession of the wreck and the wreck site of the RMS Titanic.

1998 - James Byrd Jr., at age 49, was murdered in Jasper, TX. Byrd had been dragged to death behind a pickup truck. On February 25, 1999 William King was sentenced to the death penalty for the racial crime while two other men charged awaited trial.

2000 - U.S. Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corporation.

2002 - Michael Skakel was convicted of beating his neighbor Martha Moxley to death in 1975. The two were 15 years old at the time.

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