1508 – Maximilian I proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, 1st Emperor in centuries not to be crowned by the Pope
1685 – Duke of York becomes King James II of England and VII of Scotland upon the death of his brother Charles II
1778 – The United States gained official recognition from France as the two nations signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris.
1788 – Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1820 – First 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society start a settlement in present-day Liberia
1867 – American financier and philanthropist George Peabody establishes the Peabody Education Fund to provide improvements to existing schools in poor areas of the southern USA
1869 – Harper’s Weekly publishes 1st picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers
1882 – The society of the Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut
1891 – 1st great train robbery by Dalton Gang (Southern Pacific #17)
1899 – The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty between the U.S. and Spain.
1911 – The first old-age home for pioneers opened in Prescott, AZ.
1918 – Great Britain grants women (30 & over) the vote
1933 – The 20th Amendment to the Constitution was declared in effect. The amendment moved the start of presidential, vice-presidential and congressional terms from March to January.
1934 – Far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France
1935 – “Monopoly” board game goes on sale for 1st time
1951 – Radio commentator Paul Harvey arrested for trying to sneak into Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear test site located 20 miles (32 km) west of Chicago
1952 – Queen Elizabeth II succeeds King George VI to the British throne and proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand
1956 – University of Alabama suspends African-American student Autherine Lucy claiming that it can no longer provide for her safety
1959 – The first microchip is patented. For his invention of the integrated circuit, Jack Kilby was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.
1971 – NASA Astronaut Alan B. Shepard used a six-iron that he had brought inside his spacecraft and swung at three golf balls on the surface of the moon.
1972 – Over 500,000 pieces of irate mail arrived at the mail room of CBS-TV, when word leaked out that an edited-for-TV version of the X-rated movie, “The Demand,” would be shown.
1974 – US House of Reps begins determining grounds for impeachment of President Richard Nixon
1980 – John Wayne Gacy goes on trial for the murder of 33 young men in Cook County, Illinois
1987 – No-smoking rules take effect in US federal buildings
1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland. The negotiations between the Polish government and the trade union Solidarność, or Solidarity in English, marked the beginning of the end of communism in Eastern Europe.
1998 – Washington National Airport was renamed for U.S. President Ronald Reagan with the signing of a bill by U.S. President Clinton.
1999 – King Hussein of Jordan transferred full political power to his oldest son the Crown Prince Abdullah.
1999 – Excerpts of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky’s videotaped testimony were shown at President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
2000 – Russia’s acting President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian forces had captured Grozny, Chechnya. The capital city had been under the control of Chechen rebels.
2002 – A federal judge ordered John Walker Lindh to be held without bail pending trial. Lindh was known as the “American Taliban.”
2014 – The Taliban and Pakistani government begin peace negotiations
2018 – Polish president Andrzej Duda signs controversial Holocaust law, outlaws accusing Poles of complicity under Nazis
2019 – Quadriga, Canada’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange is unable to get to $145 million of bitcoin assets after its CEO dies with its access passwords
2020 – US astronaut Christina Koch completes the longest continuous spaceflight by a female astronaut after 328 days on the International Space Station, landing in Kazakhstan
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
