Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1637

Anne Hutchinson, the first female religious leader in the American colonies, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for heresy.

1811

The Shawnee Indians of chief Tecumseh were defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Wabash (or (Tippecanoe).

1837

In Alton, IL, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot to death by a mob (supporters of slavery) while trying to protect his printing shop from a third destruction.

1874

The Republican Party was symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly magazine.

1876

The cigarette manufacturing machine was patented by Albert H. Hook.

1893

Colorado granted women the right to vote.

1895

The last spike was driven into Canada's first transcontinental railway in the mountains of British Columbia.

1916

Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.

1917

Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

1918

During World War I, a false report through the United Press announced that an armistice had been signed.

1929

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened to the public.

1932

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" was broadcast for the first on CBS Radio.

1933

Voters in Pennsylvania eliminated sports from Pennsylvanian "Blue Laws."

1940

The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm. The suspension bridge had opened to traffic on July 1, 1940.

1944

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first person to win a fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.

1962

Richard M. Nixon, who failed in a bid to become governor of California, held what he called his last press conference, telling reporters, ''You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore.''

1963

Elston Howard, of the New York Yankees, became the first black player to be named the American League's Most Valuable Player.

1965

The "Pillsbury Dough Boy" debuted in television commercials.

1967

Carl Stokes was elected the first black mayor of a major city - Cleveland, Ohio.

1967

President Johnson signed a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

1967

The U.S. Selective Service Commission announced that college students arrested in anti-war demonstrations would lose their draft deferments.

1972

President Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

1973

Congress over-rode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.

1973

New Jersey became the first U.S. state to permit girls to play on Little League baseball teams.

1983

A bomb exploded in the U.S. Capitol. No one was injured.

1985

The Colombian army stormed the country's Palace of Justice. The siege claimed the lives of 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court Justices. The Palace had been seized by leftist guerrillas belonging to the April 19 Movement.

1987

Tunisia's president Habib Bourguiba was overthrown. He had been president since the country's independence in 1956.

1989

L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history.

1989

David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first black mayor.

1989

Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg asked President Reagan to withdraw his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing the clamor that arose over Ginsburg's admission that he had smoked marijuana on occasion.

1989

Richard Ramirez, convicted of California's "Night Stalker" killings, was sentenced to death.

1991

Basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the AIDS virus and was retiring.

1991

Actor Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman, pled no contest to charges of indecent exposure. Reubens had been arrested in Sarasota, FL, for exposing himself in a theater.

1991

Pro- and anti-Communists rallies took place in Moscow on the 74th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.

1995

In a Japanese courtroom, three American military men admitted to the ambush-rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, an attack that outraged the Japanese and strained security ties between Japan and the U.S.

1998

House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned following election results in which the Republican House majority shrunk from 22 to 12.

1999

Tiger Woods became the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four straight tournaments.

2000

Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first first lady to win public office, defeating Republican Rick Lazio for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.

2000

Americans chose Republican George W. Bush president over incumbent Democratic Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes, The results of the election were not known for more than a month because of a dispute over votes in Florida.

2001

After a 16-month stoppage the Concorde resumed flying commercially.

1962

Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt died in New York City.