1979 – Five members of the Communist Workers’ Party are shot to death in broad daylight at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in Greensboro, NC. Eight others were wounded.
361 – Roman Emperor Constantius II dies at Mopsucrene on route to put down his general and cousin Julian, whose troops had proclaimed him Augustus
644 – Umar ibn al-Khattab, second Muslim caliph, is killed in Medina by Lu’lu, an enslaved Persian captive
1394 – Jews are expelled from France by Charles VI
1507 – Leonardo DaVinci was commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the Mona Lisa.
1534 – English parliament passes the Act of Supremacy making Henry VIII and all subsequent monarchs the Head of the Church of England
1631 – The Reverend John Eliot arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the first Protestant minister to dedicate himself to the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity.
1656 – Treaty of Vilnius: Russia & Poland sign anti-Swedish covenant
1762 – Spain acquires Louisiana
1783 – George Washington orders Continental Army disbanded
1783 – John Austin, a footpad turned murderer, is the last to be publicly hanged at London’s Tyburn gallows
1791 – Battle at Wabash: Indians assault general St Clair, 637 soldiers killed
1793 – French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined
1813 – US troops under General Coffee annihilate the Red Stick Creek Indian village at Tallasseehatchee, Alabama
1839 – The first Opium War between China and Britain erupted.
1868 – John Willis Menard from Louisiana is elected the first black US Congressman (opposition to his election means he never sits in Congress)
1883 – American Old West: Self-described “Black Bart the poet” gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture
1883 – US Supreme Court decides federal courts have no jurisdiction over Native American tribal Council
1885 – Tacoma vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes & businesses
1892 – The first automatic telephone went into service at LaPorte, IN. The device was invented by Almon Strowger.
1900 – The first automobile show in the United States opened at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
1903 – Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.
1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia signs a document of amnesty for the political prisoners
1911 – Chevrolet Motor Car Company was founded by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant.
1918 – Thousands of revolutionary German sailors with the fleet at Kiel mutiny, seize the city, and set up councils of workers and sailors
1935 – George II returns to Greece after 12 years and regains monarchy
1941 – U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Grew warned that the Japanese may be planning a sudden attack on the U.S.
1952 – Egypt protests German retribution payments to Israel
1954 – Godzilla released, The Japanese science fiction starring a mutated monster of the same name became an instant hit.
1955 – Scientists Carlton E. Schwerdt and Fred L. Schaffer announce they have crystallized the pure polio virus, meaning they can better determine the virus’ chemical and biological properties
1957 – Sputnik II was launched by the Soviet Union. It was the second manmade satellite to be put into orbit and was the first to put an animal into space, a dog named Laika.
1964 – For 1st time since 1800, residents of Washington, D.C. permitted to vote
1967 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins, becoming one of the bloodiest battles of the war
1970 – US President Richard Nixon promises gradual troop removal of Vietnam
1973 – The U.S. launched the Mariner 10 spacecraft. On March 29, 1974 it became the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury.
1978 – Dominica gains independence, The Caribbean Island nation gained its independence from the British after being colonized in 1805.
1979 – Five members of the Communist Workers’ Party are shot to death in broad daylight at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in Greensboro, NC. Eight others were wounded. FOUR SHOT TO DEATH AT ANTI‐KLAN MARCH – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
1984 – 3,000 die in 3 day anti-Sikh riot in India
1986 – The Ash-Shiraa, pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran to secure the release of seven American hostages. The story turned into the Iran-Contra affair.
1987 – China told the U.S. that it would halt the sale of arms to Iran.
1987 – Gordon Gould issued US patent US4704583 for the laser, ending his 30-year battle to be credited as the inventor of the laser
1988 – Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera’s nose is broken as Roy Innis brawls with skinheads at TV taping
1991 – Israeli and Palestinian representatives held their first-ever face-to-face talks in Madrid, Spain.
1992 – Carol Moseley-Braun became the first African-American woman U.S. senator.
1994 – Susan Smith of Union, SC, was arrested for drowning her two sons. Nine days earlier Smith had claimed that the children had been abducted by a black carjacker.
1995 – U.S. President Clinton dedicated a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
1998 – A state-run newspaper in Iraq urged the country to prepare for to battle “the U.S. monster.”
1998 – Minnesota elected Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a former pro wrestler, as its governor.
2003 – In Kabul, Afghanistan, a post-Taliban draft constitution was unveiled.
2005 – Walt Disney Pictures released “Chicken Little.” It was the first Disney film completely created with computer animation.
2007 – Pervez Musharraf declares emergency rule across Pakistan, suspends the Constitution, imposes a State of Emergency and fires the chief justice of the Supreme Court
2012 – Syrian rebels launch a major assault on Taftanaz airbase
2014 – In New York City, One World Trade Center opened for business.
2017 – Pakistani woman charged with poisoning 17 members of husband’s family in attempt to escape forced marriage in Punjab Province
2019 – Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco, the world’s most profitable company, announces its plans to go public
2021 – US begins vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 years with a lower dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
