EVENTS
- 1888 – Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear during an episode of depression.
- 1913 – The U.S. Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act establishing the Federal Reserve System to serve as the nation’s central bank. Chief responsibilities include: execution of monetary policy; influencing the lending and investing activities of commercial banks; and overseeing the cost and availability of money and credit.
- 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
- 1948 – Hideki Tojo was hanged for war crimes. He had been Japanese prime minister from 1941-44. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, he was arrested as a war criminal, tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to death. He was hanged along with six other Japanese wartime military leaders at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, with the sentence carried out by the U.S. 8th Army.
- 1954 – The first successful human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray
- 1958 – Tokyo Tower opened to the public. At 333 meters tall, it is world’s tallest, self-supported steel tower. It is based on the Eiffel Tower and is used for communication purposes.
- 1972 – The famous football play, the Immaculate Reception, takes place when Franco Harris scores a touchdown on a pass thrown by Terry Bradshaw
- 1975 – Metric Conversion Act signed by U.S. President Gerald Ford. The act made the metric system the preferred system of weights and measures in the United States. Today, the metric system is predominantly only used by scientists and academics in the U.S. Common people tend to follow the customary units that were developed before American Independence. The U.S. is 1 of 3 countries in the world that do not use the metric system. Liberia and Burma are the other two.
- 1986 – The Voyager becomes the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world.
- 1987 – Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager set a new world record of 216 hours of continuous flight around the world without refueling. Their aircraft Voyager traveled 24,986 miles at a speed of about 115 miles per hour.
- 1990 – Slovenian referendum on independence from Yugoslavia. The Eastern European country had joined the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a socialist republic state in 1945. Actual independence for the country did not occur until June of 1991, when the Slovenians rejected Yugoslavian interference in the form of a 10-day war that ended on July 7, 1991. A new constitution for the country came into force on December 23, 1991.
- 1994 – Organized crime boss Whitey Bulger goes into hiding. The convicted murderer stayed out of sight for 16 years causing great embarrassment to the American Federal Bureau of Investigations. He was finally arrested in 2011.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1777 – Alexander I (Tsar of Russia)
- 1805 – Joseph Smith (Founder of the Mormons)
- 1867 – Madam C.J. (Walker (Entrepreneur)
- 1901 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989) was born in Tokyo (He was Japan’s wartime Emperor and was allowed to remain in his position after the war.
- 1918 – Helmut Schmidt (German politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany)
- 1944 – Wesley Clark (US General)
- 1946 – Susan Lucci (Soap Opera Actress)
- 1963 – Jim Harbaugh (American football player)
- 1964 – Eddie Vedder (Lead singer Pearl Jam)
- 1967 – Carla Bruni (Italian/French singer-songwriter, model)
- 1971 – Corey Haim (Actor)
- 1976 – Brad Lidge (Baseball player)
DEATHS
- 1795 – Henry Clinton (English general, politician)
- 1953 – Lavrentiy Beria (Soviet politician)
- 2004 – P. V. Narasimha Rao (Indian lawyer, politician, activist, 9th Prime Minister of India)
- 2007 – Oscar Peterson (Canadian pianist, composer)
- 2009 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (Tibetan politician)