1968 – Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War’s best-known pictures, The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.
1327 – Edward III is crowned King of England aged 14, though the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer
1587 – Queen Elizabeth I of England signs death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots
1662 – Dutch garrison on Formosa surrenders to Chinese pirates
1669 – French King Louis XIV limits freedom of religion
1713 – The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results in Ottoman sultan Ahmed III ordering that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized
1788 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patented the steamboat.
1790 – The U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New York City.
1793 – France declared war on Britain and Holland.
1810 – 1st insurance company managed by African Americans, The African Insurance Company opens in Philadelphia
1861 – Texas voted to secede from the Union.
1862 – “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” by Julia Ward Howe was first published in the “Atlantic Monthly.”
1867 – In the U.S., bricklayers start working 8-hour days.
1871 – Jefferson Long of Georgia is first African American to make an official speech in US House of Representatives (opposing leniency to former Confederates)
1884 – The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1898 – The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, CT, issued the first automobile insurance policy. Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, NY, paid $11.25 for the policy, which gave him $5,000 in liability coverage.
1900 – Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.
1902 – US Secretary of State Hay protests granting Russia exclusive privileges in China, on ground that it runs contrary to the ‘open door’ policy granting all nations equal rights there
1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon
1913 – Grand Central Terminal (also known as Grand Central Station) opened in New York City, NY. It was the largest train station in the world.
1919 – The first Miss America was crowned in New York City.
1920 – The first armored car was introduced.
1920 – Canada’s Royal North West Mounted Police changed their name to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The organization was commissioned in 1873.
1930 – The Times published its first crossword puzzle.
1950 – USSR demands condemnation of Emperor Hirohito for war crimes
1951 – The first telecast of an atomic explosion took place.
1951 – The first X-ray moving picture process was demonstrated.
1957 – P.H. Young became the first black pilot on a scheduled passenger airline.
1958 – The United Arab Republic was formed by a union of Egypt and Syria. It was broken 1961.
1959 – Swiss men vote against voting rights for women
1960 – Four black students start the Greensboro sit-ins, Their refusal to leave a “whites only” lunch counter was a milestone in the fight against racial segregation in the United States.
1965 – Martin Luther King Jr. and 700 demonstrators arrested in Selma, Alabama
1968 – During the Vietnam War, South Vietnamese National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. The scene was captured in a news photograph.
1968 – Eddie Adams takes one of the Vietnam War’s best-known pictures, The image of the execution of a Vietcong officer in Saigon helped build opposition to the war.
1972 – The Ministry of Defence also issues a detailed account of the British Army’s version of events during ‘Bloody Sunday’
1979 – Patty Hearst was released from prison after serving 22 months of a seven-year sentence for bank robbery. Her sentence had been commuted by U.S. President Carter.
1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was welcomed in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.
1982 – Senegal & Gambia form loose confederation (Senegambia)
1994 – Jeff Gillooly pled guilty in Portland, OR, for his role in the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. Gillooly, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, struck a plea bargain under which he confessed to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony implicating Harding.
1996 – Visa and Mastercard announced security measures that would make it safe to shop on the Internet.
1999 – Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a deposition that was videotaped for senators weighing impeachment charges against U.S. President Clinton.
2003 – NASA’s space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
2004 – 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
2005 – Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act, making Canada the fourth country to sanction same-sex marriage.
2009 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the first openly gay Head of Government in the modern world.
2012 – At least 73 people are killed in the Egyptian football riots in Port Said
2013 – 21 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a market suicide bombing in Hangu, Pakistan
2014 – Syrian civil war death toll reaches 130,000, while 4 million are displaced
2016 – WHO declares a global public health emergency over the rapid spread of zika-linked conditions
2018 – Archaeologists announce discovery of thousands of undetected structures in Mayan lowland civilization, Guatemala, using Lidar, suggests population of 10 million
2019 – U.S. President Trump confirmed that the U.S. would leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 due to Russian non-compliance. Russia suspended its obligations to the treaty the next day.
2020 – Largest swarm of locusts across East Africa leads Somalia to declare national emergency
2021 – Military stage a coup in Myanmar, detaining civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi and declare a one-year state of emergency
2022 – 60 people killed in attack by militants on Plaine Savo camp for displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
