Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1792

President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

1809

The Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

1839

Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

1933

The House of Representatives completed congressional action on an amendment to repeal Prohibition.

1938

Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary in a dispute with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

1944

During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

1962

Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.

1965

The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.

1981

Space shuttle Columbia cleared the final major hurdle to its maiden launch by firing fired its three engines in a 20-second test.

1987

A bomb blamed on the Unabomber exploded behind a computer store in Salt Lake City, seriously injuring a store executive.

1993

Police in Liverpool, England, charged two 10-year-old boys with the abduction and slaying of toddler James Bulger, a crime that shocked the country and terrified parents. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were later convicted.

1998

Tara Lipinski of the U.S. won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, becoming at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history; Michelle Kwan won the silver.

1999

The United States and five other nations agreed to extend by three days the deadline for a Kosovo peace agreement. (NATO had threatened airstrikes against the Serbs if they did not reach an agreement with Albanian insurgents.)

2003

Fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

2005

Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death at age 67.

1899

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman

1902

Ansel Adams, American photographer.

1924

Gloria Vanderbilt, Fashion designer

1927

Sidney Poitier, Actor

1942

Phil Esposito, Hockey Hall of Famer

1946

Sandy Duncan, Actress

1946

J. Geils, Rock musician

1963

Charles Barkley, Basketball Hall of Famer

1966

Cindy Crawford, Model

1790

Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II

1895

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died in Washington, D.C.

1999

Movie reviewer Gene Siskel died at a hospital outside Chicago at age 53.