EVENTS
- 1305 – William Wallace, a Scottish patriot, is captured by the English.
- 1583 – The first English colony in North America is established by Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert - 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first Federal income tax, a 3 percent tax on incomes over $800, as an emergency wartime measure during the Civil War. However, the tax was never actually put into effect.
- 1914 – The first electric traffic light is installed In Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1940 – Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic is established. The Soviet Union added Latvia to the union as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.
- 1960 – Burkina Faso gains its Independence. The landlocked West African country, known as Upper Vota until 1984, became a French protectorate in the late 19th century. In 1958, the Republic of Upper Volta was created as a self-governing French colony. After independence, Maurice Yaméogo became the first president of the country, whose name was changed to Burkina Faso in 1984.
- 1963 – Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is Signed. Also known as the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the document was signed by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in Moscow. The treaty, which came as a response to the heightening tensions due to the frequent testing of nuclear weapons by the these 3 countries during the Cold War, banned the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere on land, over water or in space. Underground testing was still allowed under the treaty, until it was also banned in 1996 after the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty came into force.
- 1999 – Mark McGwire hits his 500th home run.
- 2009 – General Abdel Aziz sworn in as President of Mauritania. General Abdel Aziz, who came to power in a coup in 2008, was sworn in as the President of Mauritania after elections in 2009.
- 2011 – Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency downgraded the United States debt from its highest rating of AAA to a lesser AA+ rating, marking the first-ever decline of credit worthiness for the U.S. The agency cited America’s $14 trillion in outstanding debt and ineffective political leadership regarding debt reduction.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1604 – John Eliot (1604-1690) was born in Hertfordshire, England
- 1850 – Guy de Maupassant (French writer)
- 1906 – John Huston (Movie director)
- 1930 – Neil Armstrong (Astronaut and first man on the moon)
- 1946 – Loni Anderson (Actress)
Loni Anderson - 1956 – Maureen McCormick (Actress)
- 1962 – Patrick Ewing (Basketball Player)
- 1966 – Jonathan Silverman (Actor)
- 1968 – Marine Le Pen (French politician)
- 1979 – David Healy (Irish footballer
- 1981 – Carl Crawford (Baseball player)
DEATHS
- 1895 – Friedrich Engels (German philosopher)
- 1962 – Marilyn Monroe (American model, actress, singer)
- 1964 – Art Ross (Canadian ice hockey player)
- 1984 – Richard Burton (Welsh actor)
Richard Burton - 1991 – Paul Brown (American football coach, executive)
