1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of
Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by
Joseph Cinqué (pictured) take over the slave ship Amistad. After the ship was captured in American waters, the Supreme Court would rule that the Africans mutinied to regain their freedom after being kidnapped and sold illegally.
1878 –
George M. Cohan (pictured), considered the father of American
musical comedy and known in the decade before World War I as "the man who owned
Broadway", was born.
1918 – In
Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train
collides (pictured) with an outbound express train, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest
rail accident in United States history.
1967 – The
Newark riots, which were sparked when two white policemen beat an African-American cabdriver until he needed to be hospitalized, began in
Newark, New Jersey. The riots would leave 26 dead, 725 injured, and cause ten million dollars in damages.
1923 – The
Hollywood Sign (modern version pictured) is officially dedicated in the hills above
Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally read "Hollywoodland", but the four last letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.
1798 – The
Sedition Act becomes
law in the
United States making it a
federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the [nited States government.
1806 – United States Army Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike begins an
expedition from
Fort Bellefontaine near
St. Louis, Missouri, to explore west. Pike's account of the expedition, including his capture and release by Spanish forces in Mexico, became so popular that it was translated and sold in Europe.
1957 – United States Marine Major
John Glenn flies a
F8U Crusadersupersonic jet from
California to
New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record. Glenn would later be selected by
NASA for training as an
astronaut on account of his experience with supersonic flight.
1975 – An American
Apollo and a Soviet
Soyuz dock with each other in
orbit as part of the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, marking the first link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
1989 – The first flight of the
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (pictured) takes place.
1914 – The U.S. Congress forms the
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, indicating for the first time the Army's intent to make aircraft a permanent part of the military.
1942 – In a major Allied victory in the
Battle of the Atlantic, German Grand Admiral
Karl Dönitz orders the last
U-boats to withdraw from their positions off the Atlantic coast of the United States in response to the effective American convoy system.
1969 –
Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin land on the Moon (pictured), becoming the first humans to do so. They would walk on the surface of the moon the next day.
1969 – Having landed on the moon late the previous day,
Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, as part of the
Apollo 11 mission.
1997 – The fully restored
USS Constitution (pictured), also known as Old Ironsides, celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
1926 –
Fox Film buys the patents for the
Movietone sound system, a
sound-on-film system for motion pictures which guarantees that the visual and audio components of a film are synchronized.
1897 –
Amelia Earhart (pictured), known both for accomplishments as an aviation pioneer and for her disappearance over the central Pacific Ocean, was born.
1943 –
Operation Gomorrah, a massive bombing campaign targeting the city of
Hamburg, begins. American airplanes bomb the city by day, and British and Canadian airplanes bomb the city by night. By the end of the operation in
November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1974 – The Supreme Court unanimously rules that President
Richard Nixon does not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed
White House tapes, and that Nixon must surrender the tapes to the special prosecutor investigating the
Watergate scandal.
1866 – Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of
General of the Army.
Ulysses S. Grant (pictured) becomes the first officer to hold the rank, and one of two to become President of the United States after holding the rank (the other being
Dwight D. Eisenhower.)
1898 – The land invasion of
Puerto Rico by the United States begins with U.S. troops landing at harbor of
Guánica, Puerto Rico. Sea-based shelling of the capital city of
San Juan had been taking place since May in preparation for the landing.
1969 – In response to a lack of combat success in the
Vietnam War and public pressure at home, President
Richard Nixon outlines the
Nixon Doctrine, which states that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take charge of their own military defenses.
1932 – Under orders from President
Herbert Hoover, a military force under the command of General
Douglas MacArthur and Major
George S. Patton forcefully dispersed (pictured) the
Bonus Army, a group of World War I veterans who had assembled in
Washington D.C. to demand cash redemption of their service certificates. Public backlash would contribute to Hoover's defeat at the hands of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Hoover's 1932 reelection campaign.
1777 – Congress passes a resolution that commissions French aristocrat
Lafayette (pictured) as a major-general of the United States army. Lafayette would become a key military leader in the
Revolutionary War.
1964 – The
space probeRanger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the
moon. The images are a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound
telescopes.
1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of
Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by
Joseph Cinqué (pictured) take over the slave ship Amistad. After the ship was captured in American waters, the Supreme Court would rule that the Africans mutinied to regain their freedom after being kidnapped and sold illegally.
1878 –
George M. Cohan (pictured), considered the father of American
musical comedy and known in the decade before World War I as "the man who owned
Broadway", was born.
1918 – In
Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train
collides (pictured) with an outbound express train, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest
rail accident in United States history.
1967 – The
Newark riots, which were sparked when two white policemen beat an African-American cabdriver until he needed to be hospitalized, began in
Newark, New Jersey. The riots would leave 26 dead, 725 injured, and cause ten million dollars in damages.
1923 – The
Hollywood Sign (modern version pictured) is officially dedicated in the hills above
Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally read "Hollywoodland", but the four last letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.
1798 – The
Sedition Act becomes
law in the
United States making it a
federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the [nited States government.
1806 – United States Army Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike begins an
expedition from
Fort Bellefontaine near
St. Louis, Missouri, to explore west. Pike's account of the expedition, including his capture and release by Spanish forces in Mexico, became so popular that it was translated and sold in Europe.
1957 – United States Marine Major
John Glenn flies a
F8U Crusadersupersonic jet from
California to
New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record. Glenn would later be selected by
NASA for training as an
astronaut on account of his experience with supersonic flight.
1975 – An American
Apollo and a Soviet
Soyuz dock with each other in
orbit as part of the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, marking the first link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
1989 – The first flight of the
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (pictured) takes place.
1914 – The U.S. Congress forms the
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, indicating for the first time the Army's intent to make aircraft a permanent part of the military.
1942 – In a major Allied victory in the
Battle of the Atlantic, German Grand Admiral
Karl Dönitz orders the last
U-boats to withdraw from their positions off the Atlantic coast of the United States in response to the effective American convoy system.
1969 –
Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin land on the Moon (pictured), becoming the first humans to do so. They would walk on the surface of the moon the next day.
1969 – Having landed on the moon late the previous day,
Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, as part of the
Apollo 11 mission.
1997 – The fully restored
USS Constitution (pictured), also known as Old Ironsides, celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
1926 –
Fox Film buys the patents for the
Movietone sound system, a
sound-on-film system for motion pictures which guarantees that the visual and audio components of a film are synchronized.
1897 –
Amelia Earhart (pictured), known both for accomplishments as an aviation pioneer and for her disappearance over the central Pacific Ocean, was born.
1943 –
Operation Gomorrah, a massive bombing campaign targeting the city of
Hamburg, begins. American airplanes bomb the city by day, and British and Canadian airplanes bomb the city by night. By the end of the operation in
November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1974 – The Supreme Court unanimously rules that President
Richard Nixon does not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed
White House tapes, and that Nixon must surrender the tapes to the special prosecutor investigating the
Watergate scandal.
1866 – Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of
General of the Army.
Ulysses S. Grant (pictured) becomes the first officer to hold the rank, and one of two to become President of the United States after holding the rank (the other being
Dwight D. Eisenhower.)
1898 – The land invasion of
Puerto Rico by the United States begins with U.S. troops landing at harbor of
Guánica, Puerto Rico. Sea-based shelling of the capital city of
San Juan had been taking place since May in preparation for the landing.
1969 – In response to a lack of combat success in the
Vietnam War and public pressure at home, President
Richard Nixon outlines the
Nixon Doctrine, which states that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take charge of their own military defenses.
1932 – Under orders from President
Herbert Hoover, a military force under the command of General
Douglas MacArthur and Major
George S. Patton forcefully dispersed (pictured) the
Bonus Army, a group of World War I veterans who had assembled in
Washington D.C. to demand cash redemption of their service certificates. Public backlash would contribute to Hoover's defeat at the hands of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Hoover's 1932 reelection campaign.
1777 – Congress passes a resolution that commissions French aristocrat
Lafayette (pictured) as a major-general of the United States army. Lafayette would become a key military leader in the
Revolutionary War.
1964 – The
space probeRanger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the
moon. The images are a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound
telescopes.