Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1619

The first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown, Va.

1729

The city of Baltimore was founded.

1792

The French national anthem ''La Marseillaise'' by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris.

1898

Scientific American carried the first magazine automobile ad. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH invited readers to "Dispense with a Horse."

1942

President Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy known as ''Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service'' or WAVES for short.

1942

The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services were a part of of the U.S. Navy.

1945

The USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Only 316 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters.

1952

The popular radio soap opera, The Guiding Light, was seen for the first time on CBS television. The daytime drama continues today.

1956

The phrase "In God We Trust" was adopted as the U.S. national motto.

1965

President Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law. It took effect the following year.

1975

Former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit. Although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.

1996

A federal law enforcement source said security guard Richard Jewell had become a focus of the investigation into the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. Jewell was later cleared.

1997

Two men bombed Jerusalem's most crowded outdoor market, killing themselves and 16 others.

1999

Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky led to the impeachment of President Clinton, was charged in Maryland with illegal wiretapping. (Prosecutors later dropped the charges).

2001

In Canada medicinal use of marijuana became legal.

2001

In South Africa Catholic bishops denounced condoms as "immoral and misguided" weapons against AIDS.

2003

President Bush took personal responsibility for the first time for using disputed intelligence in his State of the Union address, but predicted he would be vindicated for going to war against Iraq.

2003

The last Volkswagen Beetle was produced in Mexico. Some 21,529,464 Bugs were built there over 68 years.

2004

A new Austrian postage stamp featuring a likeness of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went on sale on his birthday.

1863

American automaker Henry Ford was born in Dearborn Township, Mich.

1881

Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient. At the time of his death, Butler was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler had received sixteen medals, including five for heroism as well as two Medals of Honor. (d. 1940)

1889

Vladimir Zworykin, called the ''Father of Television'' for inventing the iconoscope, was born in Russia.

1996

Actress Claudette Colbert died in Barbados at age 92.

1998

''Buffalo Bob'' Smith, the cowboy-suited host of ''The Howdy Doody Show,'' died in Hendersonville, N.C., at age 80.

2003

Sam Phillips (b.1923), founder of Sun Records (1952), died in Memphis. Phillips produced Elvis Presley's 1st record.

2023

Paul Reubens was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. (b. 1952)