1832 – John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.
0457 – Roman armies proclaim Majorian Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
1065 – New church devoted to St Peter the Apostle built by Edward the Confessor – later called the ‘west minister’ consecrated in London (rebuilt mid 13th century)
1308 – The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Japan, begins
1537 – French king Francis I issues decree to booksellers and printers requiring them to deposit their work in the King’s Library, world’s first legal depository requirement
1612 – First observation of Neptune – Galileo observes and records a “fixed star” without realising it is a planet
1694 – Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.
1732 – “The Pennsylvania Gazette,” owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of “Poor Richard’s Almanack.”
1767 – King Taksin crowned King of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as his capital
1781 – Comte de Rochambeau and Nicolas Luckner are the last generals to be made Marshal of France by Louis XVI before the Revolution
1832 – John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/calhoun-resigns-vice-presidency
1835 – Second Seminole War between United States and Native Americans begins with the Dade Massacre in Sumter County, Florida; Senminole fighters kill nearly all 110 of US Army troops under Major Francis Langhorne Dade
1836 – Mexico’s independence was recognized by Spain.
1846 – Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.
1860 – Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
1879 – In Dundee, Scotland the central portion of the Tay Bridge collapsed as a train was passing over it. 75 people were killed.
1885 – Indian National Congress founded, The party is one of the two main political parties in India. Created by the members of the Theosophical Society, the party was a major player in India’s independence movement against the British. After Independence, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru belonged to the INC.
1908 – An earthquake killed over 75,000 at Messina in Sicily.
1912 – The first municipally-owned street cars were used on the streets of San Francisco, CA.
1915 – Today the British Cabinet recognizes the true nature of the war by deciding to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones
1917 – The New York Evening Mail published a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken on the history of bathtubs in America.
1921 – The beginning of the Rand Rebellion in Southern Africa; the rebellion started as a strike by white mineworkers on and became an open armed rebellion against the state
1943 – All Kalmyk inhabitants of the Republic of Kalmukkie deported by the Soviet Union to Central Asia and Siberia. Many die en route.
1945 – The U.S. Congress officially recognized the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
1950 – The Peak District became Britain’s first designated National Park.
1958 – “The Greatest Game Ever Played”: Baltimore Colts win the 26th NFL championship against the New York Giants 23-17 at Yankee Stadium, in the first ever sudden-death overtime game in NFL history. 17 future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were involved in the game.
1968 – The Israeli Defence Forces mounted a special operation, also known as Operation Gift, on Beirut Airport. The raid was in retaliation to the attack on El Al Flight 253, which was en route from Tel Aviv to New York. During its layover in Athens, Greece, two Palestinians fired at passengers and crew and killed 1 person. In retaliation, Israel destroyed several passenger and cargo planes parked at Beirut Airport. There were no fatalities during the raid.
1971 – Hashish now falls under the Dutch Opium Law (Opiumwet)
1972 – Kim il Sung becomes first president of North Korea, Kim Il-sung became the first and only president of North Korea under an amended constitution. He was elected to the post by the members of the North Korean parliament, which is also known as the Supreme People’s Assembly. The post was abolished in 1998, and Kim II-sung was given the title of Eternal President of Korea.
1973 – The Chamber of Commerce of Akron, OH, terminated its association with the All-American Soap Box Derby. It was stated that the race had become “a victim of cheating and fraud.”
1973 – Alexander Solzhenitsyn published “Gulag Archipelago,” an expose of the Soviet prison system.
1973 – US President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law
1975 – Earthquake in Pakistan, 4,000 die
1980 – Mexico terminated fishing agreements with US
1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, VA.
1982 – Nevell Johnson Jr. was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade. The event set off three days of race related disturbances that left another man dead.
1983 – US threatens to leave UNESCO after objecting to its domination by a coalition of third world and Soviet bloc nations
1987 – The bodies of 14 relatives of R. Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, AR. Simmons had gone on a shooting spree in Russellville that claimed two other lives.
1989 – Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.
1995 – Pressure from German prosecutors investigating pornography forced CompuServe to set a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups on the Internet for its customers.
1999 – Saparmurat Niyazov is proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan
2000 – U.S. District Court Judge Matsch held a hearing to ensure that confessed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh understood that he was dropping his appeals. McVeigh said that he wanted an execution date, set but wanted to reserve the right to seek presidential clemency.
2000 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
2001 – OPEC oil ministers meeting in Cairo agree to reduce their crude oil output quotas by a combined 1.5 million barrels per day
2005 – A U.S. immigration judge orders John Demjanjuk deported to Ukraine for crimes against humanity committed during World War II.
2007 – Nepal abolishes monarchy, The amendment to the Nepalese constitution that declared the country a federal republic was passed by the parliament. The transition was completed on May 28, 2008. Established in 1768 by Prithvi Narayan Shah, the Kingdom of Nepal lasted for over 200 years. Nepal is the world’s only country with Hinduism as the state religion.
2009 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims were observing the Day of Ashura.
2012 – Vladimir Putin signs into law a ban on US adoption of Russian children
2013 – Early signs of Ebola epidemic: 2 year old child in Guinea dies of an unidentified hemorrhagic fever; mother, sister and grandmother soon follow
2015 – Japan and South Korea reach agreement over WWII “comfort women”, Japan apologies and pays 1bn yen compensation
2017 – Iranian woman Vida Mohaved arrested for protesting against policy of compulsory hijab, sparking other protests
2019 – Jihadist fundamentalist group al-Shabaab sets off a truck bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing at least 84 people and wounding over 150
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
