451 – 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
843 – Vikings destroy Nantes
1441 – Eton College founded by Henry VI
1497 – John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England, believed he found Asia in Nova Scotia
1664 – The colony of New Jersey is founded
1778 – David Rittenhouse observes (and many others, no doubt) a total solar eclipse in Philadelphia
1794 – Bowdoin College is founded in Maine
1813 – Battle of Beaver Dam – British and Indian forces defeat US forces
1853 – Gadsden Purchase 29,670-square-mile area purchased from Mexico (present day southern Arizona and New Mexico) for $10 million signed by President Franklin Pierce
1863 – Planning an invasion of Pennsylvania, Lee’s army crosses Potomac
1901 – First exhibition by Pablo Picasso, 19, opens in Paris
1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.
1931 – USSR and Afghanistan sign neutrality treaty
1932 – Coup ends absolute monarchy in Thailand
1939 – Pan Am’s first US to England flight
1951 – Persian army takes over nationalized oil installations
1961 – Iraq demands dominion over Kuwait
1964 – FTC rules health warnings must appear on all cigarette packages
1975 – Eastern 727 crashes at JFK Airport, kills 113
1976 – 1975 movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show” released in Germany
Juan Manuel Fangio came to be known as “the maestro.”
Born in Argentina, he was the son of an Italian immigrant and had his first taste of racing while riding as a mechanic in a Chevrolet driven by a customer of the garage where he worked. He won five world titles and 24 races from 51 starts.
1982 – Supreme Court rules president can’t be sued for actions in office
1992 – John Gotti begins life sentence
1993 – Yale computer science professor Dr. David Gelernter loses the sight in one eye, the hearing in one ear, and part of his right hand after receiving a mailbomb from Ted Kaczynski, formerly a professor of mathematics UC Berkeley, aka, the Unabomber
2004 – Capital punishment is declared unconstitutional in New York
2012 – Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood becomes President of Egypt but now sits in jail after being over thrown by the Egyptian military
Birthdays
1771 – E I Du Pont, France, chemist/scientist
1797 – John Hughes, archbishop, founded Fordham University in the Bronx
1895 – Jack Dempsey, “Manassa Mauler”, heavyweight boxing champion
1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, racing driver
1935 – Pete Hamill, Brooklyn, journalist
1944 – Jeff Beck, singer/guitarist
1945 – George E Pataki, New York Governor
Deaths
1908 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd & 24th President (1885-89, 93-97), dies at 71
1987 – Jackie Gleason, comedian aka Ralph Cramden, dies at 71
1991 – Rufino Tamayo, Mexican painter, dies at 91