1968 – Columbia Records releases “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison”, the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, recorded in January 1968
0878 – Battle of Edington: Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeat Viking army of Guthrum the Old [earliest possible date]
1432 – Renaissance masterpiece The Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck is consecrated at St Bravo’s Cathedral, Belgium, commissioned by wealthy merchants
1527 – Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending the Renaissance. Charles III is killed in the assault removing any restraint for the victorious soldiers.
1529 – Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.
1541 – King Henry VIII orders a bible in English be placed in every church in England
1576 – The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.
1682 – King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.
1757 – Battle of Prague: Frederick II of Prussia’s forces defeat Austrian army
1816 – The American Bible Society is founded
1835 – James Gordon Bennett published the “New York Herald” for the first time.
1851 – The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.
1861 – Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.
1877 – Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.
1882 – The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.
1889 – The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.
1906 – Tsar Nicolas II of Russia claims right to legislate by decree and restricts the power of the Duma (Russian Parliament)
1910 – Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.
1914 – British House of Lords rejects women’s suffrage
1919 – Paris Peace Conference disposes of German colonies; German East Africa is assigned to Britain and France, German South West Africa to South Africa
1935 – The Works Progress Administation began operations following and executive order signed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt.
1937 – The Hindenburg zeppelin filled with hydrogen goes up in flames, The footage showing a colossal fireball engulfing the German airship during a landing attempt in Lakehurst, NJ, has become iconic for the end of the zeppelin era. 35 lives were lost in the crash.
1938 – Dutch court sentences writer Maurits Dekker to 50 days imprisonment for “offending a friendly head of state” – Adolf Hitler
1941 – Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.
1941 – Bob Hope did his first USO show at California’s March Field.
1942 – During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.
1945 – Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
1957 – Italian government of Antonio Segni resigns
1957 – U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Profiles in Courage”.
1960 – Trotsky’s murderer Jacques Mornard (Ramon Mercader) freed from prison after serving 19 years 8 months in Mexico
1960 – Britain’s Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.
1960 – U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1962 – The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.
1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England
1968 – Columbia Records releases “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison”, the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, recorded in January 1968
1968 – Street battle between students & troops in Paris, 1,000 injured
1970 – Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch sacks two ministers in the Irish government over allegations of illegal arms importation
1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order
1974 – West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns amidst controversy over his aide Günter Guillaume’s ties with the Stasi (East German secret service)
1981 – A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1987 – American televangelist Jim Bakker and Rich Dortch dismissed from Assemblies of God after revelations of an alleged rape of a church secretary
1988 – Doughnutgate incident: NJ Devils’ coach Jim Schoenfeld tells referee Don Koharski to ‘eat another doughnut you fat pig!,’ he is suspended
1994 – The Channel Tunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.
1994 – Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S. President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.
1997 – Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
1997 – Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.
1999 – A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.
2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque
2001 – Chandra Levy’s parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy’s body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.
2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed by an animal rights activist
2010 – A computerized sell order triggered a “flash crash” on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 1,000 points in less than a half hour.
2011 – The US Department of Labor states that 244,000 jobs were created in April, with 235,000 added in February and 221,000 in March, but unemployment continues to grow, reaching 9%
2013 – 10 people are killed and 26 people are injured after a wave of attacks across Iraq
2013 – 15 people are killed and 50 are injured after a bomb detonates at a political rally in Pakistan
2014 – Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, releases a 57 minute video boasting about abducting schoolgirls in Nigeria
2017 – 84 abducted schoolgirls released in exchange for Boko Haram suspects in Nigeria
2019 – French telecom company Orange and its former CEO with other executives go on trial in France for psychological harassment of their staff that unions claim resulted in 19 suicides and 12 other attempts
2019 – One million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction according to a major new UN report
2020 – At least 90,000 healthcare workers worldwide infected by COVID-19, more than 260 nurses have died according to International Council of Nurses
2020 – New York City began nightly shut downs of its subway system to allow for additional cleaning and disenfecting of cars and stations due to the Covid-19 panedemic.
2021 – Armed police raid on drug traffickers kills 25 in cities deadliest ever, in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
