1998 – The U.S. military delivered the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie to his family in St. Louis. He had been placed in Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown in 1984. His identity had been confirmed with DNA tests.
48 BC – Battle of Dyrrhachium: Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey near the city of Dyrrachium (in what is now Albania)
0518 – Former peasant Justin I proclaimed Byzantine emperor in the Hippodrome, Constantinople
1040 – Lady Godiva rides naked on horseback through Coventry, according to legend, to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes
1460 – Wars of Roses: Richard of York defeats King Henry VI at the Battle of Northampton, Henry VI is captured
1553 – Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, proclaimed Queen of England, succeeds Edward VI, who proclaimed his half-sisters illegitimate. Reigns for nine days.
1609 – The Catholic states in Germany set up a league under the leadership of Maximillian of Bavaria.
1679 – The British crown claimed New Hampshire as a royal colony.
1775 – Horatio Gates issues order excluding blacks from Continental Army
1776 – The statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City.
1778 – In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declared war on England.
1780 – The Comte de Rochambeau and his French force of 7,000 land at Newport, Rhode Island, to join the American Revolutionary War
1821 – U.S. troops took possession of Florida. The territory was sold by Spain.
1861 – Lincoln writes to Kentucky’s militia and says Union troops will not enter that state
1890 – Wyoming became the 44th state to join the United States.
1892 – 1st concrete-paved street built (Bellefountaine, Ohio)
1900 – ‘His Master’s Voice’, was registered with the U.S. Patent Office. The logo of the Victor Recording Company, and later, RCA Victor, shows the dog, Nipper, looking into the horn of a gramophone machine.
1919 – The Treaty of Versailles was hand delivered to the U.S. Senate by President Wilson.
1925 – The official news agency of the Soviet Union, TASS, was established.
1925 – Jury selection takes place in US John T. Scopes evolution trial
1925 – Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers still observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.
1929 – The U.S. government began issuing paper money in the small size.
1940 – The 114-day Battle of Britain began during World War II.
1941 – Jedwabne Pogrom: massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne, Poland
1942 – Himmler orders sterilization of all Jewish women in Ravensbrück concentration camp, in northern Germany
1947 – Saab introduced the Model 92 prototype as its first automobile.
1949 – The first practical rectangular television was presented. The picture tube measured 12 by 16 and sold for $12.
1951 – Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean conflict began at Kaesong.
1953 – American forces withdraw from Pork Chop Hill in Korea after heavy fighting.
1956 – 650,000 US steel workers go on strike
1962 – The Telstar Communications satellite was launched. The satellite relayed TV and telephone signals between Europe and the U.S.
1971 – Failed assassination attempt on King Hassan II of Morocco, 101 killed
1973 – Britain granted the Bahamas their independence after three centuries of British colonial rule.
1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome by Italian gangsters wanting a ransom
1978 – World News Tonight premieres on ABC with Max Robinson the first black anchor on a network newscast in the US
1984 – Prolific studio drummer Jim Gordon convicted of murdering his mother and sentenced 16 years to life in prison. Diagnosed with schizophrenia after the killing, he is serving time in a medical / psychiatric prison, and has been denied parole 10 times as of 2018.
1985 – Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, sinks – The ship was in harbor in New Zealand when it was bombed and sunk, killing Fernando Pereira, a photographer who was aboard the ship. It was found out later that French government operatives were responsible for the incident.
1985 – Coca-Cola resumed selling the old formula of Coke, it was renamed “Coca-Cola Classic.” It was also announced that they would continue to sell “New” Coke.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic.
1991 – U.S. President Bush lifted economic sanctions against South Africa, citing its “profound transformation” toward racial equality.
1997 – Scientists in London said DNA from a Neanderthal skeleton supported a theory that all humanity descended from an “African Eve” 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
1997 – Spain, Partido Popular member Miguel Ángel Blanco is kidnapped in the Basque city of Ermua by ETA members, sparking widespread protests
1998 – Roman Catholic sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos
1998 – The U.S. military delivered the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie to his family in St. Louis. He had been placed in Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown in 1984. His identity had been confirmed with DNA tests.
1999 – The heads of six African nations that had troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a cease-fire agreement that would end the civil war in that nation.
2003 – Recovering from the Reconquista – Spain opened its first mosque (in Granada) since the Moors were expelled in the early 1500s.
2015 – In South Carolina, the Confederate flag was removed for the last time from the Capitol grounds and taken to a state military museum.
2017 – NASA’s Juno spacecraft makes closest ever pass over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot at 9,000 kilometers overhead
2019 – Earliest evidence of modern humans outside Africa found with 210,000 year old skull from Apidima Cave, southern Greece published in “Nature”
2019 – British ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch resigns after his secret cables calling the US president “inept” were published
2020 – Sixth century cathedral Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque by decree issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (converted to a mosque 1453-1934)
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
