*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
*1562 – Sixty-three Huguenots are massacred in Wassy, France, marking the start of the French Wars of Religion.
*1628 – Writs issued by Charles I of England mandate that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date.
*1642 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine), becomes the first incorporated city in the United States.
*1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.
*1790 – The first United States census is authorized.
*1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba, start of the Hundred Days.
*1815 – Georgetown University‘s congressional charter is signed into law by President James Madison.
*1845 – President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
*1867 – Nebraska becomes the 37th U.S. state; Lancaster, Nebraska is renamed Lincoln and becomes the state capital.
*1872 – Yellowstone National Park is established as the world’s first national park.
*1873 – E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York begins production of the first practical typewriter.
*1893 – Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
*1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
*1910 – The worst avalanche in United States history buries a Great Northern Railway train in northeastern King County, Washington, killing 96 people.
*1917 – The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.
*1932 – Charles Lindbergh’s son is reportedly kidnapped.
*1936 – The Hoover Dam is completed.
*1954 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
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President Kennedy
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*1961 – President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
*1961 – Uganda becomes self-governingand holds its first elections.
*2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
*2005 – In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution of juveniles found guilty of murder is unconstitutional.
Births
*1547 – Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher and lexicographer (d. 1628)
*1629 – Abraham Teniers, Flemish painter (d. 1670)
*1683 – Tsangyang Gyatso, sixth Dalai Lama (d. 1706)
*1810 – Frederic Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1849)
*1910 – David Niven, English soldier and actor (d. 1983)
*1914 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and literary critic (d. 1994)
*1917 – Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
*1921 – Richard Wilbur, American poet, translator, and essayist (d. 2017)
*1924 – Deke Slayton, American soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1993)
*1944 – Roger Daltrey, The Who
*1954 – Ron Howard, American actor, director, and producer
Deaths
*1943 – Alexandre Yersin, Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist (b. 1863)
*1991 – Edwin H. Land, American scientist and businessman, co-founded the Polaroid Corporation (b. 1909)
*2012 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist and publisher (b. 1969)