1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to explore unknown lands.
1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
1920 – It was reported on this day that thousands of families had written the U.S. Government requesting that their sons be allowed to join the army. Upon enlistment, they would receive the quality education they would not otherwise receive as a result of living in an underdeveloped area of the country.
1927 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (d. 1976) was born.
1931 – The British Viceroy of India, Governor-General Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) sign an agreement envisaging the release of political prisoners and allowing salt to be freely used by the poorest members of the population.
1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a “bank holiday“, closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.
1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections. This later allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1936 – First flight of Supermarine Spitfire advanced monoplane fighter aircraft in the United Kingdom.
1940 – Six high-ranking members of Soviet politburo, including General Secretary Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
1945 – János Garay, Jewish Hungarian 1928 Summer Olympics gold medalist in fencing, murdered at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp (b. 1889)
1946 – Richard Bell, Canadian pianist (Full Tilt Boogie Band, The Band, Crowbar, and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) (d. 2007) was born.
1946 – Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain” in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
1953 – Joseph Stalin, Russian marshal and politician, 3rd leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1878) died.
1956 – The US Supreme Court upholds a ban on racial segregation in state schools, colleges and universities, When the University of North Carolina appeals against an earlier ruling which ordered college officials to admit three black students to what was previously an all-white University
1960 – Cuban photographer Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
1960 – Elvis Presley completes his two-year stint is discharged from the US Army.
1962 – Charlie Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter (The Proclaimers) was born.
1962 – Craig Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter (The Proclaimers) was born.
1963 – The Hula-Hoop, first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the company’s co-founder, Arthur “Spud” Melin.
1967 – Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1882) died.
1969 – Jim Morrison was arrested by Dade County a few days after his performance in Miami. He was charged of one felony and three misdemeanors related to indecent behavior he displayed on stage.
1970 – John Frusciante, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Swahili Blonde, and Ataxia) was born.
1970 – The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
1974 – Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
1979 – Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by “off the scale” gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
1979 – America’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.
2012 – Invisible Children launches the Stop Kony campaign with the release of Kony 2012.
2013 – Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1954) died.