1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy holds his iconic “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. The speech was a welcome gesture of support for the people of West Berlin. East Germany had erected the Berlin Wall just two years earlier to stop mass emigration to the West.
0363 – Roman Emperor Julian is killed during retreat from the Sassanid Empire. General Jovian is proclaimed Emperor by troops on the battlefield.
1243 – The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor was wiped out by the Mongols.
1284 – According to the Lüneburg manuscript, a piper leads 130 children of Hamelin away
1483 – Richard III usurped himself to the English throne.
1718 – Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, Peter the Great’s son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.
1721 – Dr Zabdiel Boylston gives 1st smallpox inoculations in America
1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles.
1819 – The bicycle was patented by W.K. Clarkson, Jr.
1844 – John Tyler took Julia Gardiner as his bride, thus becoming the first U.S. President to marry while in office.
1848 – 1st pure food law enacted in US
1894 – The American Railway Union called a general strike in sympathy with Pullman workers.
1900 – The Russian Tsar orders that Russian must be the official language of Finland, despite growing unrest within Finland and increasing international concern over Russia’s behavior there
1900 – The United States announced that it would send troops to fight against the Boxer rebellion in China.
1900 – A commission that included Dr. Walter Reed began the fight against the deadly disease yellow fever.
1907 – Russia’s nobility demanded drastic measures to be taken against revolutionaries.
1914 – The Indian Relief Act, passes after a protracted period of Passive Resistance led by Gandhi; it abolishes a £3 tax imposed on Indians who had not renewed their indentures and recognizes “the validity of Indian customary marriages”
1925 – Charlie Chaplin’s film “The Gold Rush” receives its premiere. The comedy featuring Chaplin in his famous Little Tramp role is a classic of the silent film genre. The English star actor repeatedly stated that this is the film he wants to be remembered for.
1926 – A memorial to the first U.S. troops in France was unveiled at St. Nazaire.
1924 – After eight years of occupation, American troops left the Dominican Republic.
1934 – FDR signs Federal Credit Union Act, establishing Credit Unions
1941 – Lithuanian fascists massacre 2,300 Jews in Kovno
1945 – The U.N. Charter was signed by 50 nations in San Francisco, CA.
1948 – The Berlin Airlift began as the U.S., Britain and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin.
1951 – The Soviet Union proposed a cease-fire in the Korean War.
1959 – U.S. President Eisenhower joined Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in ceremonies officially opening the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy holds his iconic “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. The speech was a welcome gesture of support for the people of West Berlin. East Germany had erected the Berlin Wall just two years earlier to stop mass emigration to the West. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-claims-solidarity-with-the-people-of-berlin
1968 – 10-year-old English girl Mary Bell strangles four-year-old Martin Brown in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (later convicted of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility)
1968 – Iwo Jima & Bonin Islands returned to Japan by US
1971 – The U.S. Justice Department issued a warrant for Daniel Ellsberg, accusing him of giving away the Pentagon Papers.
1975 – U.S. Supreme Court’s rules unanimously in “O’Connor v. Donaldson” that non-dangerous people can’t be confined to psychiatric facilities without adequate treatment if able to live viably in outside society
1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.
1975 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency due to “deep and widespread conspiracy.”
1977 – The Yorkshire Ripper kills 16 year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she was the first victim who was not a prostitute.
1985 – Wilbur Snapp was ejected after playing “Three Blind Mice” during a baseball game. The incident followed a call made by umpire Keith O’Connor.
1989 – Supreme Court rules 16 year olds can receive death penalty
1993 – The U.S. launches a cruise missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for a thwarted assassination attempt against former President George H. W. Bush in April in Kuwait.
1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup.
1996 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute to admit women or forgo state support.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that made it illegal to distribute indecent material on the Internet.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws that allow for a ban on doctor-assisted suicides.
1998 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers are always potentially liable for supervisor’s sexual misconduct toward an employee.
2000 – Indonesia’s President Abdurrahman Wahid declared a state of emergency in the Moluccas due to the escalation of fighting between Christians and Muslims.
2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. Heller that the ban on handguns in the District of Columbia is unconstitutional.
2014 – Following the military coup in Thailand, people are warned that anyone calling for protest on social media will be prosecuted for sedition
2015 – US Supreme Court rules 5-4 same-sex marriage is a legal right across all US states
2015 – Gunman opens fire at beach resort in Sousse, Tunisia, killing 38. Isis claims responsibility.
2015 – Saudi suicide bomber kills 27 at Shia Imam al-Sadiq mosque in Kuwait, 227 injured
2018 – US Supreme Court upholds President Trump’s travel ban against mostly Muslim countries
2018 – Sudanese court overturns death sentence for teenager who killed the husband after he raped her
2018 – India is named the most dangerous country to be a women because of sexual violence and slave labour by the Thomson Reuters Foundation
2018 – Polio outbreak confirmed in New Guinea by WHO, 18 years after it was declared free of the disease
2021 – Largest-ever pile up in the Tour de France caused by a spectator with a sign during Stage 1. Spectator later hunted down and arrested.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
