413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
1753 – Phillis Wheatley, American poet who was both the second published African-American poet and first published African-American woman. Born
1792 – US establishes military draft
1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
1819 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819)Killed
1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman (d. 1885) was birthed.
1858 – John Brown holds antislavery convention
1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1877 – 1st Westminster Dog Show held
1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821) Dies
1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972) was birthed.
1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
1891 – Helena Petrovina Blavatsky, Russian theosophist, dies
1900 – 250 grave robbers shot to death
1911 – Robert Johnson, blues singer (King of Delta Blues Singer) Born
1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984) was born.
1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
1926 – David Attenborough, producer/TV host/scientist – Born
1926 – Don Rickles, Queens NY, comedian (Don Rickles Show, CPO Sharkey)Born
1930 – Gary Snyder, [Japhy Ryder], beat poet (Rip Rap & Cold Mountain Poems) Born
1932 – Sonny Liston, American heavyweight boxer (d. 1970) Born
1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against the British rule in India.
1937 – Thomas Pynchon, novelist (V) Born
1940 – Peter Benchley, NYC, novelist (Jaws, The Deep), (d. 2006) Born
1940 – Ricky Nelson, NJ, rock star (Hello Mary Lou, It’s Late, Garden Party) born
1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer – Born
1941 – James A Traficant Jr, (Rep-D-OH, 1985- ) Born
1942 – Euclid “Motorhead” Sherwood, rocker (Mothers Of Invention) Born
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1944 – Gary Glitter, [Paul Gadd], England, rocker (Rock & Roll Part II) Born
1945 – Keith Jarrett, jazz musician/film composer (Nachtfahrer) Born
1945 – The Halifax Riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax.
1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (Earth, Wind & Fire) was born.
1951 – Chris Frantz, Ky, rock drummer (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) Born
1952 – Mad Magazine debuts
1958 – VP Dick Nixon is shoved, stoned, booed & spat upon by protesters in Peru
1967 – Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in US Army
1970 – Beatles release “Let it Be” album
1970 – The Hard Hat Riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
1972 – Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
1977 – David Berkowitz pleads guilty in “Son of Sam” 44-caliber shootings
1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
1994 – George Peppard, actor (Breakfast at Tiffanys, A-Team), dies at 65
1999 – Dirk Bogarde, London England, actor (b. 1921) (Death in Venice, Servant)Dies
1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)Dies
2008 – Eddy Arnold, Country music star (b. 1918) Dies
2013 – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi receives a four year prison sentence for fraud