EVENTS
- 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge.
- 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
- 1900 – The SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore. The German transatlantic liner was fitted with wireless communication by its owner, Norddeutscher Lloyd, in order to outdo its rival Hamburg America Line.
- 1926 – The first two-way transatlantic telephone takes place. The conversation between the post office in London and Bell Laboratories in New York was established using a short-wave radio signal.
- 1945 – U.S. troops capture the Ludendorff Bridge and cross the Rhine at Remagen. The legendary capture yielded little strategic advantage but it elevated the morale of the U.S. troops in pursuit of retreating German fighters.
- 1965 – Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, when police break up civil rights marchers.
- 1971 – A speech by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman helps spark the Bangladesh war of independence. Bangladesh’s founding leader made his historical speech at a time of mounting tensions between East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh, and West Pakistan, which became present-day Pakistan.
- 1983 – First broadcast of The Nashville Network (TNN)
BIRTHDAYS
- 1707 – Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) was born in Providence, Rhode Island
- 1875 – Maurice Ravel (French composer)
- 1902 – Heinz Rühmann (German actor)
- 1934 – Willard Scott (Television Weatherman)
- 1942 – Michael Eisner (CEO of Disney)
- 1944 – Townes Van Zandt (American singer-songwriter, guitarist)
- 1950 – Franco Harris (American Football Player)
- 1960 – Ivan Lendl (Tennis Player)
- 1970 – Rachel Weisz (English actress)
- 1974 – Jenna Fisher (Actress plays Pam on The Office)
DEATHS
- 1274 – Saint Thomas Aquinas (Italian priest, philosopher)
- 1952 – Paramahansa Yogananda (Indian guru)
- 1975 – Mikhail Bakhtin (Russian philosopher)
- 1999 – Stanley Kubrick (American director)
- 2006 – Ali Farka Touré (Malian singer-songwriter, guitarist)