272 – Constantine – Roman emperor, (adopted Christianity) – (d. 337) was born.
837 – 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
1560 – The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland.
1594 – Henry IV is crowned King of France.
1670 – Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.
1801 – Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
1812 – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
1813 – 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
1844 – Nicholas Biddle, US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
1860 – Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1861 – Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland in Castle Square, Warsaw
1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
1869 – John Menard is 1st black to make a speech in the US Congress
1892 – Louis Vuitton, French businessman, founded Louis Vuitton (b. 1821) was born.
1898 – King George I of Greece survives an assassination attempt.
1900 – In London, the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (formed in 1893) meet, resulting in a Labour Representative Committee and eventually the modern Labour Party in 1906
1902 – John Steinbeck, Salinas California, author (Grapes of Wrath-Nobel / Of Mice and Men) 1962, Born
1913 – Irwin Shaw, US, novelist (Rich Man Poor Man) Born
1910 – Kelly Johnson, American engineer, co-founded Skunk Works (d. 1990) was born.
1917 – John Connally, (Gov-D/R-Texas), shot in Kennedy motorcade) was birthed.
1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
1923 – Dexter Gordon, US, tenor saxophonist/actor (Connection) Born
1932 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (Father of the Bride, Butterfield 8, Cleopatra) (d. 2011), born in London, England
1933 – The Reichstag, German parliament building, destroyed by fire; it was set by the Nazis, who blamed it on Communists
1933 – Jean Genet’s “Intermezzo” premieres in Paris
1934 – Ralph Nader, Winsted Connecticut, American consumer advocate (Unsafe at Any Speed) Born
1938 – Britain & France recognize Franco government in Spain
1939 – Nadezjda K Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary/wife of Lenin, dies at 70
1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners’ rights and are therefore illegal.
1939 – Borley Rectory, “the most haunted house in England”, destroyed in a fire
1940 – Howard Hesseman, Salem Or, actor (Dr Johnny Fever-WKRP, Head of Class) Born
1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
1954 – Neal Schon, rock guitarist (Journey-Open Arms, Bad English) Born
1957 – Adrian Smith, English guitarist and songwriter (Iron Maiden, ASAP, and Psycho Motel, and Urchin) was born.
1959 – Johnny Van Zant, American singer-songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Zant) was born.
1961 – James Worthy, Gastonia North Carolina, NBA small forward (LA Lakers, 1988 Playoff MVP) Born
1962 – Adam Baldwin, American actor was born.
1964 – The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
1967 – Dominica gains independence from England
1968 – Frankie Lymon, American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer (The Teenagers), dies at 25 of a heroin overdose
1972 – US President Richard Nixon & Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued Shanghai Communique
1973 – The American Indian Movement (AIM) occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
1977 – Keith Richards gets suspended sentence for heroin possession, Canada
1980 – “Terrorists” occupy Dominican embassy in Bogota
1982 – Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta
Programmed To Kill/Satanic Cover-Up Part 46… by cky_jackass_bamargera
1985 – Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief
1985 – Henry Cabot Lodge, (Sen-R)/diplomat, dies at 82
1986 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
1988 – Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36:08:34
1990 – Exxon Corp & Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated”.
1991 – Singer James Brown is released from prison
1997 – Singer Sade (Helen Folasade) arrested in Jamaica for disobeying a police officer
1998 – Britain’s House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male precedence by giving a monarch’s first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first born son
2003 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
2003 – Fred MR Rogers, American television host (b. 1928) died.
2004 – The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released.
2007 – The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.
2008 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American conservative author and commentator (Skull & Bones) (b. 1925) Dies
2012 – A section of a nine-story apartment building in the city of Astrakhan, Russia, collapses in a natural gas explosion, killing ten people and injuring at least 12 others.
2012 – Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million emails from private intelligence company Stratfor (Later revealed to have been an FBI Sting hack)
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City
2013 – Van Cliburn, American pianist, dies at 78
2014 – Republic of Crimea announces a referendum & ousts its regional government
2014 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk appointed Prime Minister of the Ukraine
2014 – Chaos erupts after the Swedish Public Employment Service mistakenly invites 61,000 people to a job interview in Stockholm
2014 – US Republican Governor Jan Brewer vetoes a “religious freedom” bill that would have allowed businesses to turn away gay customers