Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1797

The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston's harbor.

1805

A British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed.

1849

The first tattooed man, James F. O'Connell, was put on exhibition at the Franklin Theatre in New York City, NY

1879

Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. It would last 13 1/2 hours before it would burn out.

1917

Members of the First Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, became the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I.

1918

Margaret Owen set a typing speed record of 170 words per minute on a manual typewriter.

1925

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it had fined 29,620 people for prohibition (of alcohol) violations.

1925

The photoelectric cell was first demonstrated at the Electric Show in New York City, NY.

1944

U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen during World War II.

1945

Women in France were allowed to vote for the first time.

1950

Chinese forces invaded Tibet.

1959

The Guggenheim Museum opened to the public in New York. The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

1960

Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon clashed in their fourth and final presidential debate.

1966

More than 140 people, mostly children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and several houses in south Wales.

1967

Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.

1971

President Nixon nominated Lewis F. Powell and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.

1975

In one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history, Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a ball that struck the left field foul pole in Boston's Fenway Park, giving the Red Sox a 7-6 victory in 12 innings over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6

1980

The Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series.

1983

The Pentagon reported that 2,000 Marines were headed to Grenada to protect and evacuate Americans living there.

1986

The U.S. ordered 55 Soviet diplomats to leave. The action was in reaction to the Soviet Union expelling five American diplomats.

1986

Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon claimed that they had abducted American writer Edward Tracy. He was not released until August of 1991

1988

A federal grand jury in New York indicted former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife, Imelda, on charges of fraud and racketeering. Marcos died before he could be brought to trial; his widow, Imelda, was acquitted in 1990.

1991

Jesse Turner, an American hostage in Lebanon, was released after nearly five years of being imprisoned.

1994

Rosario Ames, the wife of CIA agent Aldrich Ames, was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in her husband's espionage.

1994

North Korea and the U.S. signed an agreement requiring North Korea to halt its nuclear program and agree to inspections.

1998

Cancer specialist Dr. Jane Henney became the FDA's first female commissioner.

1998

The New York Yankees set a major league baseball record of 125 victories for the regular and postseason combined.

1998

68 people were arrested in Indonesia for the killing spree that left nine suspected murderers dead.

2003

North Korea rejected U.S. President George W. Bush's offer of a written pledge not to attack in exchange for the communist nation agreeing to end its nuclear weapons program.

2003

The U.S. Senate voted to ban what was known as partial birth abortions.

1917

Dizzy Gillespie, [John B], jazz trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz

1928

Edward "Whitey" Ford, hall of fame pitcher (NY Yankees)

1949

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister