810 – Pepin, son of Charlemagne, King of Italy, dies (birth date unknown)
1099 – First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in a religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.
1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
1709 – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden’s role as a major power in Europe.
1721 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (b. 1649)Dies
1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.
1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (Prometheus unbound), drowns at 29
1831 – John Pemberton, American chemist, invented Coca-Cola (d. 1888) was born
1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1914) born.
1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (d. 1917) born.
1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company (d. 1937) birthed.
1876 – White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, South Carolina.
1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
1892 – St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (d. 1995) was birthed.
1908 – Louis Jordan, Ark, alto saxman (Caldonia)Born
1908 – Nelson Rockefeller, American politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979) was birthed.
1931 – Jerry Vale, [Genaro Louis Vitaliano], NYC, singer (Arriverderci Roma)Born
1932 – Florenz Ziegfeld, US theatre producer (Ziegfeld Follies), dies
1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
1934 – Marty Feldman, London England, comedian (Young Frankenstein) Born
1935 – Steve Lawrence, Bkln, singer/actor (Go Away Little Girl, Lonely Guy) Born
1942 – Chuck Negron, Bronx NY, rock vocalist (3 Dog Night-Joy to the World)Born
1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, SF California, actor (Jeffrey-Ropers, Larry Sanders)Born
1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.
1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
1949 – Wolfgang Puck, Austrian chef and actor was born.
1951 – Anjelica Huston, (Daughter of John Houston) Los Angeles California, actress (Prizzi’s Honor, Adams family, Alien)Born
1958 – Kevin Bacon, American actor and singer (The Bacon Brothers) was born.
1959 – Dale Buisand & Chester Ovnand, 1st Americans killed in Vietnam War
1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
1961 – Andy Fletcher, rocker (Depeche Mode-Just Can’t Get Enough)Born
1962 – Joan Osborne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Dead and Trigger Hippy) was born.
1962 – Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)
1970 – Beck, American singer-songwriter and producer was born.
1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
1971 – The rioting is continuing in Londonderry with the latest rioting increasing following the use of nail bombs by rioters causing the British army to use live ammunition and firing on rioters and killing two.
1976 – David Kennedy, American guitarist and songwriter (Angels & Airwaves, Box Car Racer, Hazen Street, and Over My Dead Body) was born.
1982 – Assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.
1987 – Oliver North has broken 10 months of silence concerning the Iran contra affair when he testified before the house senate committee investigating the Iran Arms Sale, that all his orders came from senior members of the white house staff including orders to shred documents and to prepare false statements.
“Flashback with Oliver North” Jack replays his interview with Ollie North
1994 – Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
1994 – Dick Sargent, actor (Darren-Bewitched), dies of cancer at 64
1996 – Amschel Rothschild, banker, dies at 41
2006 – June Allyson, American actress (b. 1917)Dies
2011 – Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (b. 1918) died.
2011 – The US state of Texas executed Humberto Leal Garcia, a thirty-eight year old Mexican citizen who had been convicted of raping and killing an American girl in 1994. Despite pleas to hold off on the execution from US Officials, Mexican Officials, and the UN, Texas carried out the sentence of death by lethal injection. The United Nations stated that the US breached international law by violating the Vienna Convention when Leal Garcia was told he could not have access to Mexican consular officials.
2012 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor, dies from renal failure at 95