EVENTS
- 1865 – A four-hour peace conference occurred between President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The meeting was unsuccessful as President Lincoln insisted there could be no armistice until the Confederates acknowledged Federal authority. The Confederates wanted an armistice first. Thus the Civil War continued.
- 1870 – The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution is passed.
- 1913 – US starts the Income Tax.
- 1943 – An extraordinary act of heroism occurred in the icy waters off Greenland after the U.S. Army transport ship Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo and began to sink rapidly. When it became apparent there were not enough life jackets, four U.S. Army chaplains on board removed theirs, handed them to frightened young soldiers, and chose to go down with the ship while praying.
- 1959 – Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash.
- 1966 – Luna 9 touches down on the Moon. The unmanned Soviet spacecraft was the first to achieve a soft landing there.
- 1969 – Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the PLO.
- 1972 – The deadliest snowstorm in history kills 4000. The Iran Blizzard lasted a week and left whole villages without survivors.
- 1989 – Paraguay’s dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, is overthrown. Stroessner had come to power in 1954 with a military coup.
- 1998 – 20 people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster. The wings of a low-flying U.S. military aircraft cut the aerial tramway’s cables, causing the cabin to plunge 80 meters.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1747 – Samuel Osgood (American Patriot)
- 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn (German pianist, composer, conductor)
- 1821 – The first female physician in the U.S., Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was born near Bristol, England. As a girl, her family moved to New York State. She was awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, in 1849. She then established a hospital in New York City run by an all-female staff. She was also active in training women to be nurses for service in the American Civil War.
- 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1874 – Gertrude Stein (American poet, art collector)
- 1894 – Norman Rockwell (Artist)
- 1907 – James Michener (Author)
- 1927 – Kenneth Anger (American actor, director, author)
- 1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson (American singer, guitarist)
- 1940 – Fran Tarkenton (NFL Quarterback)
- 1945 – Bob Griese (Football Player)
- 1950 – Morgan Fairchild (Actress)
DEATHS
- 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg (German publisher, invented the Printing press)
- 1820 – Gia Long (Vietnamese emperor)
- 1924 – Woodrow Wilson (American politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1961 – Anna May Wong (American actress)
- 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer (American physicist)
