1405- Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world.
1798 – The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
1914 – Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
1936 – The Triborough Bridge is opened to traffic. Renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in 2008, this bridge is in fact a complex of three bridges leading out into the outer boroughs of New York City. The Harlem vertical-lift bridge connects Manhattan to Randall’s Island. The Bronx Kill truss bridge connects Randall’s island and the Bronx. The suspension bridge over Hell Gate – a strait of the East River – connects Ward’s Island to Astoria in Queens. Despite an occasional traffic jam, the Triborough bridge complex has provided easy transportation between Manhattan and other parts of NYC for decades.
1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published.
1962 – Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.
Births
1653 – Sarah Good, American woman accused of witchcraft (d. 1692)
1851- Millie and Christine McKoy, American co-joined twins (d. 1912)
1928 – Bobo Olson, American boxer (d. 2002)
Deaths
1775 – Simon Boerum, American farmer and politician (b. 1724)
1936 – James Murray, American actor (b. 1901)