1808 – John Rennie’s scheme to defend St Mary’s Church, Reculver, founded in 669, from coastal erosion was abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture.
1908 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to require states to give women the right to vote.
1932 – Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
1971 – The Harrisburg Seven: Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other activists are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
1998 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
2010 – An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing over 100,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Births
1588 – John Winthrop, English lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1649)
1856 – John Singer Sargent, American painter and academic (d. 1925)
1876 – Jack London, American novelist and journalist (d. 1916)
1951 – Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author
1954 – Howard Stern, American radio host, actor, and author
1964 – Jeff Bezos, American computer scientist and businessman, founded Amazon.com
Deaths
1759 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1709)
2001 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (b. 1913)
2002 – Cyrus Vance, 57th U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1917)
