1986 – A bomb kills 3 people at the La Belle in West Berlin – The attack on the nightclub, which was frequented by U.S. soldiers, was later blamed on the Libyan secret service. In retaliatory strikes, at least 15 people were killed in Libya.
2348 BC – Noah’s ark grounded, Mount Ararat (calculated date)
0456 – St. Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.
0823 – Pope Peschalis I crowns Lotharius I, co-emperor of France
1242 – Russian troops repelled an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
1424 – Scottish King James I returns to Scotland after 18 years of detention at the English court
1566 – 200 Netherlands noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Inquisition in the Netherlands and demanding its immediate dismantling. Margaret agrees to suspend the Inquisition while a delegation is sent to Spain to petition Philip II himself.
1614 – American Indian Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.
1621 – The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, MA, on a return trip to England.
1654 – The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed
1722 – Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to discover Easter Island / Rapa Nui in the southeastern Pacific
1764 – British Parliament passes the Sugar Tax on the American colonies, introduced by Prime Minister George Grenville
1792 – U.S. President George Washington cast the first presidential veto. The measure was for apportioning representatives among the states.
1818 – Battle of Maipú: Chile’s independence movement led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead
1843 – Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.
1869 – Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier of the U.S. Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109.
1887 – Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet.
1892 – In New York, the Ithaca Daily Journal published an ad introducing a new 10 cent Ice Cream Specialty called a Cherry Sunday.
1893 – Cleveland passes Park Act (forerunner of Metroparks)
1894 – 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville PA
1908 – The Japanese Army reached the Yalu River as the Russians retreated.
1915 – Jess Willard defeats Jack Johnson in 26 for heavyweight boxing title
1923 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company began the first regular production of balloon tires.
1930 – In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.
1933 – The first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.
1938 – Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa Poland
1941 – German commandos secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.
1943 – Chinese steward Poon Lim is found off the coast of Brazil by a Brazilian fisherman family after being adrift for 133 days, after British ship SS Benlomond was torpedoed by a German U-boat
1944 – World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.
1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip “”Tito”” Broz signs an agreement with the USSR allowing “”temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory.
1949 – A fire at St. ANthony’s hospital in Effingham, Illinois, United States, kills 77 people resulting in nationwide fire code improvements
1950 – Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins
1951 – Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for committing espionage for the Soviet Union. The U.S. couple was accused of passing information about nuclear weapons on to the Soviet Union. It later emerged that Ethel was not involved in her husband’s activities. Both were executed in 1953.
1953 – Jomo Kenyatta was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for orchestrating the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya.
1955 – Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister.
1964 – First driverless trains run on the London Underground
1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations are held in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the United States
1972 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invade Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the Nguyen Hue Offensive
1983 – France throws out 47 Soviet diplomats
1985 – John McEnroe said “any man can beat any woman at any sport, especially tennis.”
1986 – A bomb kills 3 people at the La Belle in West Berlin – The attack on the nightclub, which was frequented by U.S. soldiers, was later blamed on the Libyan secret service. In retaliatory strikes, at least 15 people were killed in Libya.
1987 – FOX Broadcasting Company launched “Married….With Children” and “The Tracey Ullman Show”. The two shows were the beginning of the FOX lineup.
1989 – In Poland, accords were signed between Solidarity and the government that set free elections for June 1989. The eight-year ban on Solidarity was also set to be lifted.
1992 – Siege of Sarajevo begins when Serb paramilitaries murder peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic on the Vrbanja Bridge.
1993 – The Child Support Act 1991, administered by the Child Support Agency, comes into effect in the United Kingdom
1995 – Pages of Codex Argenteus (the Silver Bible), the oldest text in the Gothic language (5th century) stolen from Uppsala University Library, Sweden in broad daylight (recovered a month later)
1998 – The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan opened becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. It links Shikoku and Honshu. The bridge cost about $3.8 billion.
1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 were handed over so they could be flown to the Netherlands for trial. 270 people were killed in the bombing.
2004 – Near Mexico City’s international airport, lightning struck the jet Mexican President Vicente Fox was on.
2009 – North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
2012 – International internet group Anonymous hack several Chinese bureaus in opposition to censorship
2016 – PayPal announces it is cancelling a $3.6 million investment in North Carolina after the state passes anti-gay legislation
2020 – British monarch Queen Elizabeth II makes an address to the nation “we will meet again”, for only the 5th time in her 66-year reign
2021 – Italy scraps its 1914 film censorship law that could ban films on moral and religious grounds
2022 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urges UN Security Council to act against Russia, accusing Russian military of the worst war crimes since WWII, including execution, rape and torture of civilians
2063 – Earth’s 1st contact by extra-terrestrials (Vulcan); according to Star Trek
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
