68 – The Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer’s Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. (Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.)
1525 – Tax revolt in Hertogenbosch (a city and municipality in the southern Netherlands)
1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River.
1549 – England enforces Act of Supremacy
1628 – 1st deportation from what is now US, Thomas Morton from Mass
1650 – The Harvard Corporation, the more powerful of the two administrative boards of Harvard, is established. It is the first legal corporation in the Americas.
1672 – Peter the Great [Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov],Tsar of Russia (1682-1725) born
1732 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.
1772 – 1st naval attack of Revolutionary War takes place in Providence, RI – The British schooner Gaspee is burned off the coast of Rhode Island.
1790 – 1st book copyrighted under constitution, “Philadelphia Spelling Book”
1836 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician (d. 1917) was born.
1856 – 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
1860 – 1st US “dime novel” published: “Malaseka, The Indian Wife of the White Hunter,” by Mrs Ann Stevens
1862 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now studied by militaries around the world.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
1869 – Charles Elmer Hires sells his 1st root beer (Phila)
1870 – Washington: Pres Grant meets with Sioux chief Red Cloud
1870 – Charles Dickens, English writer (David Copperfield), dies at 58
1873 – Alexandra Palace in London burns down after being open for only 16 days.
1891 – Cole Porter, Indiana, composer/lyricist (Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate) Born
1898 – China leases Hong Kong’s new territories to Britain for 99 years
1900 – Birsa Munda, an important figure in the Indian independence movement, dies in a British prison under mysterious circumstances.
1914 – Honus Wagner is 2nd to get 3,000 hits
1915 – Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) Waukesha Wisconsin, American musician and inventor, born
1915 – US President Wilson sends the second Lusitania note to Germany demanding reparations and prevention of ‘recurrence of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare'; Wilson refuses to recognize the ‘war zone’ that Germany has proclaimed around the British Isles
1915 – William Jennings Bryan resigns as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States’ handling of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
1916 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2009) was birthed.
1926 – Happy Rockefeller, American philanthropist, 31st Second Lady of the United States (d. 2015) was birthed.
1927 – Victoria Woodhull, American woman’s suffrage leader and first woman to be nominated for US presidency, dies at 88
1930 – A Chicago Tribune reporter, Jake Lingle, is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.
1931 – 1st rocket-powered aircraft design patented (Robert Goddard)
1931 – Jackie Mason, Wisc, comedian (World According to Me, Chicken Soup) Born
1934 – Jackie Wilson, singer (Lonely Teardrops, Night), born in Detroit, Michigan
1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
1940 – Dick Vitale, US, sportscaster (ESPN, ABC “Oh Baby!”) Born
1941 – Jon Lord, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Deep Purple, Paice Ashton Lord, The Flower Pot Men, and The Artwoods) (d. 2012) was born.
1942 – Nazis kill all inhabitants of Lidice, which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, and Hitler’s order was given to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”.
1943 – “Pay-as-you-go” (withholding) US income tax deductions authorized
1943 – New laws are passed which require employers to withhold federal taxes from weekly paychecks. This changed the earlier format where taxes were paid in one lump sum at the end of each year, and has been called “Pay As You Go tax” .
1944 – 23 puppies, (record litter) born to Lena, a foxhound, Ambler Penn
1944 – World War II: 99 civilians are hanged from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks.
1946 – Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes King of Thailand after the death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol
1946 – Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
1948 – Foundation of the International Council on Archives under the auspices of the UNESCO.
1954 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
1958 – Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London’s Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
1961 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian-American actor, producer, and author was born.
1963 – Johnny Depp, American actor, singer, producer, and director was born.
1965 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong commences combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the war.
1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria / Israeli troops reach Suez Canal
1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 – Brian Jones quits (sic) Rolling Stones
1970 – An assassination attempt is made on the King Hussein of Jordan when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade as it was driving near his summer palace.
1970 – Argentine milt junta under lt-gen Lanusse drives out pres Ongania
1972 – OPEC moves to prevent companies whose interests were nationalized in Iraq from increasing production elsewhere
1972 – Wesley Reid Scantlin, Kansas City Missouri, American guitarist and singer (Puddle of Mudd) Born
1973 – In horseracing, Secretariat wins the U.S. Triple Crown.
1973 – Tedy Bruschi, linebacker (New England Patriots) Born
1974 – Supergroup Blind Faith’s (Clapton, Windwood, Baker) 1st concert
1975 – The British house of commons allows live radio broadcasts of parliament
1978 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to “all worthy men”, ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men.
1978 – Matthew Bellamy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Muse) was born.
1980 – Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine
1981 – Natalie Portman [Natalie Hershlag], Jerusalem, Israeli/American actress (Professional, Everyone Says I Love You) born
1981 – Anoushka Shankar, Famous sitarist and daughter of Ravi Shankar, Born
1982 – Israel wipes out Syrian SAM missiles in Bekaa Valley
1985 – Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon. He will not be released until 1991.
1990 – Michael Jackson is hospitalized with inflamed rib cartilage (common in Rhinoplasti)
1999 – Kosovo War: the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
2002 – As pressure mounts on the Catholic church over alligations that Church Leaders have been covering up abuse by it’s priests including many who have been found guilty of sexually abusing children remain in jobs within the US Roman Catholic Church. To help with the poor publicity this has generated for the Church leaders have suggested that Pope John Paul II be asked to defrock any priest who commits any future sexual abuse of a minor, as well as any priest who has abused more than one child in the past. Latest reports indicate that as many as 300 civil lawsuits alleging clerical sex abuse have been filed this year since the case of the paedophile priest in Boston.
2006 – Congress passes the Cope Act by 321-101 votes.
2008 – Over one hundred whales were stranded off the coast of Madagascar, and at least thirty of them had already died. The beached whales started turning up after ExxonMobil began seismic surveys in the area, but the company denied any connection between their surveys and the whales. Experts and locals came to the area to try to help the whales that were stuck on the shore
2010 – Hungary leaves the recession after experiencing 0.9% growth in the first quarter as a result of growing exports and effective government spending measures
2012 – Burma (Myanmar) riots kill 20 people and burn down 300 houses
2013 – Edward Snowden publically makes his identity known as the leaker of NSA documents