1962 – The Soviet Union exchanged capture American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for the Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel being held by the U.S.
0060 – St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta
1098 – Crusaders defeat Prince Redwan of Aleppo at Antioch
1355 – The St. Scholastica’s Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 62 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days
1535 – 12 nude anabaptists run through Amsterdam streets
1620 – Supporters of Marie de Medici, the queen mother, who has been exiled to Blois, are defeated by the king’s troops at Ponts de Ce, France.
1635 – The Académie française forms in Paris (by Cardinal Richelieu)
1676 – Wampanoag Indians under King Philip kill all men in Lancaster Mass
1746 – The Pelham brothers resign from the British government, but resume office when King George II backs down.
1763 – The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. In the treaty France ceded Canada to England.
1778 – Voltaire returns to Paris to great acclaim after an absence of 28 years
1814 – Napoleon personally directs lightning strikes against enemy columns advancing toward Paris, beginning with a victory over the Russians at Champaubert.
1840 – Britain’s Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
1846 – Led by religious leader Brigham Young, the first Mormons begin a long westward exodus from Nauvoo, Il., to Utah.
1855 – US citizenship laws amended; all children of US parents born abroad granted US citizenship
1863 – In New York City, two of the world’s most famous midgets, General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren were married.
1863 – In Virginia, the first fire extinguisher patent was issued to Alanson Crane.
1870 – The YWCA was founded in New York City.
1879 – The electric arc light was used for the first time.
1890 – Around 11 million acres ceded to US by Sioux Indians, then opened for settlement
1897 – “The New York Times” began printing “All the news that’s fit to print” on their front page.
1915 – President Wilson blasts the British for using the U.S. flag on merchant ships to deceive the Germans.
1916 – Biggest oil well gusher ever – Edward L. Doheny’s Cerro Azul No. 4 first gushes 600 feet in the air near Tampico, Mexico
1933 – The singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegraph Company of New York City.
1933 – Primo Carnera knocked out Ernie Schaaf in round 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Schaaf died as a result of the knockout punch.
1935 – The Pennsylvania Railroad began passenger service with its electric locomotive. The engine was 79-1/2 feet long and weighed 230 tons.
1940 – “Tom & Jerry” cartoon created by William Hanna & Joseph Barbera debut by MGM
1954 – President Dwight Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam
1960 – Adolph Coors, the beer brewer, is kidnapped in Golden, Colo.
1962 – The Soviet Union exchanged capture American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for the Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel being held by the U.S.
1966 – Protester David Miller is convicted of burning his draft card.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment required the appointment of a vice-president when that office became vacant and instituted new measures in the event of presidential disability.
1977 – Bomb explosion in Moscow metro
1979 – The Metropolitan Museum announces the first major theft in its 110-year history, $150,000 Greek marble head.
1981 – The Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino caught fire. Eight people were killed and 198 were injured.
1986 – The largest Mafia trial in history, with 474 defendants, opens in Palermo, Italy.
1988 – 3-judge panel of 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco strikes down Army’s ban on homosexuals (later overturned by appeal)
1989 – Ron Brown became the first African American to head a major U.S. political party when he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
1989 – To gain deregulation WWF admits pro wrestling is an exhibition & not a sport, in a NJ court
1990 – South African President F.W. de Klerk announced that black activist Nelson Mandela would be released the next day after 27 years in captivity.
1996 – A bomb explodes in Docklands area of London, ending the 17-month ceasefire; James McArdle is eventually found guilty and jailed for 25 years
1996 – Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a chess game against a reigning world champion
1997 – The U.S. Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier, Army Sgt. Major Gene McKinney following allegations of sexual misconduct. McKinney was convicted of obstruction of justice and acquitted of 18 counts alleging sexual harassment of six military women.
1998 – A man became the first to be convicted of committing a hate crime in cyberspace. The college dropout had e-mailed threats to Asian students.
1998 – Voters in Maine repealed a 1997 gay rights law. Maine was the first state to abandon such legislation.
2005 – North Korea publicly announced for the first time that it had nuclear arms. The country also rejected attempts to restart disarmament talks in the near future saying that it needed the weapons as protection against an increasingly hostile United States.
2009 – Two satellites collide in space, Both the U.S. satellite “Iridium 33” and the Russian “Kosmos 2251” were destroyed in the accident.
2016 – Venezuelan government orders more than 100 malls to close early to save electricity, due to drought caused by El Niño
2019 – Insect populations are collapsing worldwide threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems” according to a global review saying 40% declining, 30% endangered
2019 – Mine collapse at an illegal gold mine in north-eastern Liberia traps about 40 people underground
2019 – Sexual abuse investigation into US Southern Baptist churches reveals 400 church members implicated with over 700 victims, according to The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News
2021 – Astronomers confirm the planetoid named Farfarout as the most distant orbiting the Sun, almost four times more distant than Pluto
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
