1652 – New Amsterdam (now New York City) enacts first speed limit law in North America
1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: On the battlefield in Bavaria, George II personally leads troops into battle. The last time that a British monarch would command troops in the field.
1844 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are murdered by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail.
1869 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-American Anarchist / activist (d. 1940) was born.
1880 – Helen Keller, American author and activist (d. 1968) was born
1890 – Cecil Rhodes’ colonies attack Motlousi in Matabeleland
1895 – The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York, New York, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
1914 – Jack Johnson beats Frank Moran in 20 for heavyweight boxing title
1927 – Prime Minister of Japan Tanaka Giichi leads a conference to discuss Japan’s plans for China; later, a document detailing these plans, the “Tanaka Memorial” is leaked, although it is now considered a forgery.
1941 – Romanian governmental forces, allies of Nazi Germany, launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iaşi, (Romania), resulting in the Alleged murder of at least 13,266 Jews.
1942 – FBI captures 8 Nazi saboteurs from a sub off NY’s Long Island
1946 – In the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Parliament of Canada establishes the definition of Canadian citizenship.
1950 – North Koreans troop reach Seoul, UN asks members to aid South Korea, Harry Truman orders Air Force & Navy into Korean conflict
1954 – The 1954 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game.
1954 – CIA-sponsored rebels overthrow elected government of Guatemala
1957 – Hurricane Audrey, kills 526 in Louisiana & Texas
1958 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, singer/songwriter (Gun Club)- Born – D. March 31, 1996
1962 – Ross Perot begins Electronic Data Systems
1969 – 50,000 attend Denver Pop Festival
1969 – Police raid Stonewall Gay Bar in Greenwich Village, NY, about 400 to 1,000 patrons riot against police, it lasts 3 days
1971 – After only three years in business, rock promoter Bill Graham closes the Fillmore East in New York, New York, the “Church of Rock and Roll”.
1973 – John W Dean tells Watergate Committee about Nixon’s “enemies list”
1973 – The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship.
1974 – U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union.
1976 – Israeli raid on Entebbe, Uganda
1981 – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issues its “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China”, laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.
1982 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4.
1985 – U.S. Route 66 is officially removed from the United States Highway System.
1988 – Mike Tyson KOs Michael Spink in 91 seconds, in Atlantic City ($67m)
1990 – Salman Rushdie, condemned to death by Iran, contributes $8600 to help their earthquake victims
2001 – Jack Lemmon, American actor and singer (b. 1925) died
2002 – John Entwistle, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Who) (b. 1944) died.
2003 – The United States National Do Not Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolls almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day.
2005 – AMD files broad antitrust complaints against Intel Corporation in U.S. Federal District Court, alleging abuse of monopoly powers and antitrust violations.
2007 – Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997.
2007 – The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre.
2008 – Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of Microsoft Corporation to work full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
2008 – In a highly scrutizined election President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party’s supporters.