Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1787

Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1870

Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first black congressman.

1896

Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

1896

The "Katzenjammer Kids," a comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks, debuted in the Sunday supplement of the "New York Journal."

1897

''The Katzenjammer Kids,'' the pioneering comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks, made its debut in the New York Journal.

1899

The golf tee was patented by George F. Grant of Boston.

1901

Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless signal, from England to Newfoundland, 2232 miles away.

1913

The "Mona Lisa" painting, stolen in 1911 from the Louvre in Paris, was recovered in Florence, Italy.

1917

Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska.

1925

The first motel - the ''Motel Inn'' - opened in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

1937

Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat Panay on China's Yangtze River. Japan later apologized and paid $2.2 million dollars in reparations.

1946

A United Nations committee voted to accept a six-block tract of Manhattan real estate offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to be the site of U.N. headquarters.

1947

The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor.

1955

British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the first hovercraft.

1963

Kenya gained its independence from Britain.

1967

Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones has a nine-month jail sentence overturned at the Court of Appeal in London.

1969

Simultaneous bomb explosions in Milan and Rome leave at least 27 people dead and 100 injured.

1975

Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to trying to kill President Ford.

1985

An Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killing 248 American soldiers and eight crew members.

1988

The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.

1992

England's Princess Anne becomes Mrs Timothy Laurence after a small family wedding in Scotland.

1997

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as ''Carlos the Jackal,'' went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. (Convicted, he is serving a life prison sentence.)

1998

The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Clinton. The case was submitted to the full House.

1999

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits the Philippines's main island of Luzon, killing six people, injuring 40, and causing power outages that affected the capital Manila.

2000

A divided U.S. Supreme Court halted the presidential recount in Florida. Democrat Al Gore conceded defeat to Republican George W. Bush the following day.

2000

The Marine Corps grounded all eight of its high-tech V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft following a fiery crash in North Carolina that killed four Marines.

2012

North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2.

2015

The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted.

2021

Dutch Formula One racing driver Max Verstappen wins the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to become the first Formula One World Champion to come from the Netherlands.

1745

John Jay, American statesman, first Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court (1789-1795).

1821

Gustave Flaubert, French author.

1863

Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter.

1893

Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-born American stage and film actor.

1915

Frank Sinatra, American singer, actor.

1923

Bob Barker, game show host.

1924

Edward Koch, former New York City mayor.

1937

Born Concetta Rose Maria Franconero in Newark, New Jersey, Connie Francis was a top-selling American singer and actress who rose to fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Francis was a pioneer in recording music in multiple languages. (d. 2025)

1960

Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver.

1889

Robert Browning, English poet of the Victorian age.

1939

Douglas Fairbanks, American film actor and producer.

1998

Former U.S. Representative Morris K. Udall died in Washington D.C. at age 76. (b. 1922)

1998

Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida died in Tallahassee at age 68. (b. 1930)

1999

Joseph Heller, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright died in East Hampton, N.Y., at age 76. His best known work was "Catch-22". (b. 1923)