Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1848

Major John C. Fremont, popular for his mapmaking expeditions to the West, was court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders. Stephen Kearny brought charges against Fremont when a dispute arose over who held governing authority in California.

1865

Gen. Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.

1865

Congress approves the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.

1917

Germany announced the renewal of unlimited submarine warfare in the Atlantic, and German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships sighted in war-zone waters.

1940

The first Social Security check was issued, to Ida May Fuller of Vermont.

1944

During World War II, U.S. forces invaded Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1945

Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.

1949

The first TV daytime soap opera, "These Are My Children," was broadcast from the NBC station in Chicago.

1950

President Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.

1953

A car ferry sinks in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales of the winter, claiming the lives of up to 130 passengers and crew.

1958

The United States Army launches Explorer 1 into Earth's orbit. The first U.S. satellite, it is used to study cosmic rays.

1962

Willie Mays, known as the "Say Hey Kid," signs a contract reportedly worth $90,000, a record to date.

1971

Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.

1990

McDonald's Corp. opens its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia, serving more than 30,000 customers in one day.

2000

An Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into ocean off Southern California on a flight from Mexico to San Francisco, killing all 88 people on board.

2000

Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner BudSelig for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a SportsIllustrated interview.

2001

A court in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

2005

The Michael Jackson child molestation trial begins in Santa Maria, California.

1797

Composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria.

1875

Zane Grey, American western writer.

1881

Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina.

1903

Tallulah Bankhead, actor.

1915

Thomas Merton, American Catholic monk/poet.

1919

Jackie Robinson, first African-American baseball player in modern major leagues.

1923

Norman Mailer, American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.

1925

Benjamin Hooks, American jurist, minister, civil rights leader, and public official.

1970

Minnie Driver (born Amelia Driver), English actress, and singer-songwriter.

1981

Justin Timberlake, American pop singer, and actor.

1606

Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the ''Gunpowder Plot'' against the English Parliament and King James I. Hanged, drawn, and quartered.

1956

A. A. Milne (born Alan Alexander Milne), English writer.

1974

Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born American film producer and studio executive.

2000

Gil Kane (born Eli Katz), Latvian-born comic book artist.

2001

Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian science fiction author.