What Happened On This Day In History?

1620

The Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower when they landed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The compact called for "just and equal laws.

1831

Nat Turner, a slave and educated minister, was hanged in Jerusalem, VA, after inciting a violent slave uprising.

1851

The telescope was patented by Alvan Clark.

1868

The first indoor amateur track and field meet was held by the New York Athletic Club.

1880

Australian outlaw and bank robber Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne jail at age 25.

1887

Labor Activists were hanged in Illinois after being convicted of being connected to a bombing that killed eight police officers.

1889

Washington became the 42nd state of the United States.

1918

Poland was reestablished shortly after the surrender of Germnay.

1918

Fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany. This day became recognized as Veteran's Day in the United States.

1920

The body of an unknown British soldier was buried in Westminster Abbey. The service was recorded with the first electronic recording process developed by Lionel Guest and H.O. Merriman.

1921

President Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

1938

Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on network radio.

1946

The New York Knickerbockers (now the Knicks) played their first game at Madison Square Garden.

1952

The first video recorder was demonstrated by John Mullin and Wayne Johnson in Beverly Hills, CA.

1965

The government of Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain. The country later became known as Zimbabwe.

1966

The U.S. launched Gemini 12 from Cape Kennedy, FL. The craft circled the Earth 59 times before returning.

1972

The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese army, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

1975

Civil war broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal.

1981

The U.S.S. Ohio was commissioned at the Electric Boat Division in Groton, CT. It was the first Trident class submarine.

1981

Stuntman Dan Goodwin scaled the outside of the 100-story John Hancock Center in Chicago in about six hours.

1984

U.S. President Ronald Reagan accepted the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a gift to the nation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

1984

Actor Gary Coleman, at age 13, underwent his second kidney transplant in Los Angeles. He had his first transplant at age 5

1986

Sperry Rand and Burroughs merged to form "Unisys," becoming the second largest computer company.

1987

Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises" was sold for a then record 53.9 million dollars in New York.

1988

Police in Sacramento, CA, found the first of seven bodies buried on the grounds of a boardinghouse. Dorothea Puente was later charged in the deaths of nine people, convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison.

1991

The U.S. stationed its first diplomat in Cambodia in 16 years to help the nation arrange democratic elections.

1992

The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.

1992

Russian President Boris Yeltsin told U.S. senators in a letter that Americans had been held in prison camps after World War II. Some were "summarily executed," but others were still living in his country voluntarily.

1993

A bronze statue was dedicated in Washington, D.C., honoring the more than 11,000 American women who served in the Vietnam War.

1993

Walt Disney Co. announced plans to build a U.S. history theme park in a Virginia suburb of Washington. The plan was halted later due to local opposition.

1994

In Gaza, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at an Israeli military checkpoint killing three soldiers.

1996

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund unveiled "The Wall That Heals." The work was a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that would tour communities throughout the United States.

1997

Roger Clemens (Toronto Blue Jays) became the third major league player to win the Cy Young Award four times.

1998

Israel's Cabinet narrowly ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.

1998

Jay Cochrane set a record for the longest blindfolded skywalk. He walked on a tightrope between the towers of the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, NV. The towers are 600 feet apart.

2000

Republicans went to court, seeking an order to block manual recounts from continuing in Florida's razor-thin presidential election.

2000

A cable car crammed with skiers and snowboarders caught fire while being pulled through an Alpine tunnel in Austria, killing 155 people.

2002

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates pledged $100 million to fight AIDS in India.

1984

The Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. died in Atlanta at age 84.

1990

Stormie Jones, the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient, died at a Pittsburgh hospital at age 13.