Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1499

Perkin Warbeck, who impersonated the youngest son of King Edward IV, was executed by King Henry VII.

1765

Frederick County, Md., repudiated the British Stamp Act.

1785

John Hancock was elected president of the Continental Congress for the second time.

1848

The Female Medical Educational Society was established.

1863

Fighting begins in the Battle of Chattanooga setting the stage for Union General William Sherman's triumphant March to the Sea.

1876

William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, leader of New York City's corrupt Tammany Hall political organization during the 1860s, was turned in to authorities in New York City after his capture in Spain.

1889

The first jukebox was played, in San Francisco at the Palais Royale Saloon.

1903

Singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in ''Rigoletto.''

1909

The Wright brothers formed a corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.

1919

The first play-by-play football game radio broadcast took place during the Texas A&M - Texas game.

1921

U.S. President Warren Harding signed the Willis Campell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbade doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes, which was a loophole in Prohibition.

1936

Life magazine, created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.

1942

The Coast Guard Woman's Auxiliary was authorized.

1943

U.S. forces seized control of the Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese during World War II.

1945

With the end of WWII all rationing stops in the United States, with the exception of sugar.

1963

Lyndon B Johnson is the new president of the USA following Kennedy's assassination.

1971

The People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.

1973

Representative Yvonne Burke gives birth to a daughter, Autumn Roxanne Burke, becoming the first member of Congress to become a mother while in office.

1980

A series of earthquakes devastated southern Italy, killing some 4,800 people.

1984

Almost 1,000 passengers are trapped in smoke-filled tunnels for three hours after a fire at Oxford Circus underground station.

1995

The Bosnian Serbs accepted a peace plan proposed during talks in Dayton, Ohio, to end the four years of conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

1996

At least 100 passengers die after a hijacked passenger jet runs out of fuel and crashes into the Indian Ocean.

2001

The United Nations war crimes tribunal said it would put former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on trial for genocide in Bosnia.

2002

Miss World organizers cancel the controversial beauty pageant that has sparked violence among Christians and Muslims.

2004

Dan Rather announced that he would step down as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News" in March 2005.

1804

Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.

1859

William H. Bonney (Billy the Kid), outlaw

1887

Boris Karloff (William Henry Pratt), British-born actor

1888

Harpo Marx (Adolph Marx/Arthur Marx), American comedian.

1925

José Napoleón Duarte, El Salvadoran president (1984-89).

1933

Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer

1956

Shane Gould, Australian swimmer who won three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in 1972 Summer Olympics.

1941

P.C. Wren, British novelist.

1979

Merle Oberon, British film actress, who was born in Bombay, India.