1945 – The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph of these Marines raising the American flag was taken.
1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
1540 – Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition sets off from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Gold (Cibola)
1574 – France began the 5th holy war against the Huguenots.
1660 – Charles XI became the king of Sweden.
1668 – Fire in Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, emperor Leopold I rescued
1778 – Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge
1782 – Engineer James Watt’s patent for a rotary motion for the steam engine (his sun-and-planet gear) is granted
1792 – The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.
1813 – The first U.S. raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham, MA.
1820 – The Cato Street conspiracy was uncovered: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
1821 – The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries established the first pharmacy college.
1836 – The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas
1847 – Santa Anna was defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico by U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary.
1861 – U.S. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
1870 – The state of Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
1874 – Walter Winfield patented a game called “sphairistike.” More widely known as lawn tennis.
1883 – Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1898 – In France, Emile Zola was imprisoned for his letter, “J’accuse,” which accused the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus.
1900 – The Battle of Hart’s Hill took place in South Africa between the Boers and the British army.
1903 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”
1904 – The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million
1915 – Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.
1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
1923 – Great Britain lowers import duty on German products from 26% to 5%
1927 – The Federal Radio Commission began assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters. On July 1, 1934 the name was changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
1941 – Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
1942 – Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood CA
1945 – The 28th Regiment of the Fifth Marine Division of the U.S. Marines reached the top of Mount Surabachi. A photograph of these Marines raising the American flag was taken.
1947 – General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews
1954 – Pittsburgh begins the first mass inoculation of children against polio in the US, using the vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk
1956 – Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
1957 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NFL operations did fall within coverage of antitrust laws.
1963 – The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
1966 – A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
1970 – Holy Eucharist given by women for first time in Roman Catholic service
1971 – US army officer William Calley confesses & implicates Captain Medina during his trial for the My Lai Massacre
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th.
1975 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran’s new parliament would have to decide the fate of the hostages taken on November 4, 1979, at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
1981 – “Tejerazo” Spanish coup led by Civil Guard officer Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina fails after televised speech by King Juan Carlos I
1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri
1987 – Supernova 1987A in LMC first seen; first naked-eye supernova since 1604
1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.
1997 – Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the 86th-floor observation deck of New York City’s Empire State Building. He killed one person and wounded six more before killing himself.
1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
1999 – White supremacist John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.
2002 – Sky Disc of Nebra, world’s oldest map of the stars at 3,600 years old, recovered in police sting operation in Basal, Switzerland after being illegally excavated in Germany
2005 – The New York, NY, city medical examiner’s office announced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.
2006 – Dubai Ports World agrees to postpone its plans to take over management of six U.S. ports after the proposal ignited harsh bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
2008 – B-2 Spirit of the USAF crashes at Guam. Crew survives but aircraft written off, the most expensive air crash in human history (aircraft alone cost $1.2Bn). B-2 had a perfect safety record before the crash; not one B-2 ever crashed.
2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million litres of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.
2013 – 51 people are killed and 62 are injured in conflict between rival tribes in Darfur, Sudan
2019 – Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir declares a national emergency, dismisses the federal government and sacks all state governors
2020 – Violent protests against new citizenship laws in Delhi, India erupt leaving at least 38 people dead over the next few days
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
