1521 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther’s first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.
1730 – Henry Clinton, Red Coat (d. 1795) was born. (from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America. Married Harriet Carter. No Alleged relation to Bill Clinton)
1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (d. 1864) was born.
1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Treaty, establishing the border with Canada.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee’s Mills in Virginia.
1862 – American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.
1889 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1977) was born.
1910 – The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.
1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia from exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
1922 – The Prohibition Department is to enforce the law making it illegal to manufacture beer or wine in the home for home use, this follows the supreme court that home brewing is illegal
1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.
1924 – Henry Mancini, Cleveland, composer/conductor (Pink Panther, Peter Gunn) Born
1927 – X Pope Benedict XVI [Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger], Marktl, Bavaria, Germany (Born out of the bowels of HELL)
1935 – President Roosevelt unveils plans to allocate a work fund and more than $900,000,000 in funds for work based projects has been received so far , this will help with the mass unemployment and misery caused by the severe depression
1935 – Bobby Vinton, American singer and actor was born.
1943 – Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist accidentally consumes LSD-25. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations.
1945 – The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b. 1884) Dies
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, [Lew Alcindor], Activist, actor, NBA center (Mil Bucks, LA Lakers) Born
1947 – Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
1947 – Bernard Baruch Banker, coins the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1947 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (b. 1900) died.
1949 – Ann Romney, American wife of Mitt Romney was born.
1951 – Billy West, American voice actor was born.
1962 – Walter Cronkite takes over as the lead news anchor of the CBS Evening News, during which time he would become “the most trusted man in America”.
1962 – Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye Born (A key figure in the development of hardcore punk, straightedge – frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well as The Evens.
He is a co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label.)
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, Ogden Utah, singer (Donnie & Marie) Born
1963 – Police break up walk to city hall to register to vote in Birmingham Alabama and arrested the first 15 Negroes in the walk to the county courthouse
1964 – Dave Pirner, rocker (Soul Asylum) Born
1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
1964 – “The Rolling Stones band’s debut album, “The Rolling Stones” issued in the US as “England’s Newest Hit Makers” was released. The band consisted of Jagger, Jones, Richards, Wyman, and Watts.
1971 – Selena, Texas, spanish singer (Grammy-1994)Born
1972 – Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1990 – The “Doctor of Death”, Jack Kevorkian, participates in his first assisted suicide.
1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-born guitarist, singer and songwriter (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1946)
2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (Vega$ – “Dan Tanna” , Turk 182, S.W.A.T., Magnum Force, Spenser: For Hire) (b. 1946) Dies of synovial cell sarcoma
2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
2005 – Marla Ruzicka, American activist, founded Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (b. 1976) died.
2007 – Virginia Tech massacre: Seung-Hui Cho guns down 32 people and injures 23 before committing suicide.
2010 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program… Chief of Police During Reagan Drug raids in LA… Rodney King beating, riots (b. 1926) died.
2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.
2013 – Pat Summerall, American NFL player and sportscaster, dies from cardiac arrest at 82