1960 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sale an oral birth-control pill for the first time.
1386 – Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England (oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force)
1460 – Courtyard of the episcopal palace in Atrecht (akak Arras) has witch burnings
1502 – Christopher Columbus left Spain for his final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1671 – Thomas “Captain” Blood stole the crown jewels from the Tower of London.
1726 – Three men arrested during a February raid on Mother Clap’s molly-house (a coffee house catering to homosexuals) in London are executed by hanging at Tyburn, England
1754 – The first newspaper cartoon in America showed a divided snake “Join or die” in “The Pennsylvania Gazette.”
1901 – The first Australian Parliament opens in Melbourne, though the first working session will not be until 21 May
1926 – Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly an airplane over the North Pole.
1941 – British intelligence at Bletchley Park breaks German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen
1946 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by his son Umberto II who reigns for only 34 days before the monarchy is abolished
1960 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sale an oral birth-control pill for the first time.
1962 – A laser beam was successfully bounced off Moon for the first time.
1974 – The House Judiciary Committee began formal hearings on the Nixon impeachment.
1978 – The body of slain former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in Rome.
1979 – Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed – An Islamic revolutionary tribunal had convicted him of “contacts with Israel and Zionism” and “friendship with the enemies of God”. His execution triggered a Jewish mass exodus from Iran.
1980 – A Liberian freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. 35 motorists were killed and a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapsed.
1981 – The Motherland Monument at 62 m (203 ft) high is opened in Kyiv, Ukraine in ceremony attended by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
1989 – VP Quayle says in United Negro College Fund speech: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind” instead of “a mind is terrible thing to waste”
1992 – Salem Village Witchcraft Victims’ Memorial dedicated in Danvers (formally Salem Village) to mark 300 year anniversary of trials
1996 – In video testimony to a courtroom in Little Rock, AR, U.S. President Clinton insisted that he had nothing to do with a $300,000 loan in the criminal case against his former Whitewater partners.
2002 – In Bethlehem, West Bank, a deal was reached that would end the 38-day standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Thirteen suspected militants were to be deported to several different countries. The standoff had begun on April 2, 2002.
2002 – In Kaspiisk, Russia, 39 people were killed and at least 130 were injurde when a remote-controlled bomb exploded during a holiday parade.
2017 – Fossil of Chinese feathered baby dinosaur formally identified as Beibeilong sinensis (baby dragon in Chinese)
2018 – India’s Supreme Court criticises the country’s archaeological conservation body for failing to protect the Taj Mahal from discoloration and green slime
2019 – Pope Francis introduces new rules on reporting sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, criticized for not going far enough
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
