EVENTS
- 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents his engine design. The German engineer’s so-called “grandfather clock engine” was lighter than previous four-stroke engines and is considered a milestone for the invention of the automobile.
- 1860 – In the American West, the Pony Express service began as the first rider departed St. Joseph, Missouri. For $5 an ounce, letters were delivered 2,000 miles to California within ten days. The famed Pony Express riders each rode from 75 to 100 miles before handing the letters off to the next rider. A total of 190 way stations were located about 15 miles apart. The service lasted less than two years, ending upon the completion of the overland telegraph.
- 1865 – The Confederate capital of Richmond surrendered to Union forces after the withdrawal of General Robert E. Lee’s troops.
- 1922 – Joseph Stalin succeeds Vladimir Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.
- 1940 – Soviet troops massacre about 22,000 Polish nationals. The Katyn massacre is considered the worst massacre of prisoners of war in history. The order to execute all captive members of the Polish Officer Corps was signed by Joseph Stalin.
- 1944 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that African Americans can not be barred from voting in the Texas Democratic primaries. The Court stated that discrimination against blacks violates the 15th Amendment and that political parties are not private associations.
- 1948 – President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan.
- 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “mountaintop” speech.
- 1972 – The first ever mobile phonecall is placed
- 1973 – The first public mobile telephone call is placed on a Manhattan sidewalk. Motorola’s Martin Cooper called Joel Engel of Bell Labs. He later told the BBC that his first words were “Joel, I’m calling you from a ‘real’ cellular telephone. A portable handheld telephone.”
- 1995 – Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to preside over the Court, sitting in for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist who was out of town.
- 1996 – The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, is arrested. The mathematician who was driven by anarchist ideas sent out 16 letter bombs between 1978 and 1995, killing 3 people and injuring 23.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1366 – Henry IV (King of England)
- 1783 – Washington Irving (Author)
- 1823 – Tammany Hall ‘Boss’ William M (Tweed (1823-1878) was born in New York City
- 1924 – Marlon Brando (Actor)
- 1926 – Gus Grissom (Astronaut)
- 1930 – Helmut Kohl (German politician, Chancellor of Germany)
- 1934 – Jane Goodall (Anthropologist)
- 1942 – Wayne Newton (Singer)
- 1958 – Alec Baldwin (Actor)
- 1958 – Francesca Woodman (American photographer)
- 1961 – Eddie Murphy (Comedian)
- 1971 – Picabo Street (Skier)
DEATHS
- 1882 – Jesse James (American criminal, murderer)
- 1897 – Johannes Brahms (German pianist, composer)
- 1950 – Kurt Weill (German/American composer)
- 1990 – Sarah Vaughan (American singer)
- 1991 – Graham Greene (English author, playwright, critic)