EVENTS
- 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
- 1846 – Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone.
Adolphe Sax - 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.
- 1943 – The Royal Air Force dambusters wreck three German dams. The RAF squadron used revolutionary bouncing bombs to avoid the torpedo nets protecting the dams. The audacious air raid was depicted in a 1954 war film.
- 1954 – In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregation of public schools “solely on the basis of race” denies black children “equal educational opportunity” even though “physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may have been equal. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Thurgood Marshall had argued the case before the Court. He went to become the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.
- 1972 – Germany ratifies the Treaty of Warsaw. Chancellor Willy Brandt signed the treaty, by which Germany gives up any territorial claims and guarantees the Oder-Neisse line as the valid border to Poland.
- 1990 – The WHO deletes homosexuality from its list of mental diseases. Precisely 14 years later, the first same-sex marriages in the United States were performed as Massachusetts became the first state to legalize them.
- 1995 – Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France, after 18 years as the mayor of Paris.
- 1999 – Ehud Barak becomes Prime Minister of Israel. During his tenure, Barak attempted to revive the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). However, his efforts were unsuccessful.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz (Austrian/American chess player)
- 1866 – Erik Satie (French pianist, composer)
- 1936 – Dennis Hopper (Actor)
- 1946 – Udo Lindenberg (German singer-songwriter, drummer)
- 1955 – Bill Paxton (Actor)
- 1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxer)
Sugar Ray Leonard - 1956 – Bob Saget (Actor)
- 1985 – Matt Ryan (NFL Quarterback)
DEATHS
- 1510 – Sandro Botticelli (Italian painter)
- 1829 – John Jay (American jusrist, politician, 1st Chief Justice of the United States)
- 1875 – John C. Breckinridge (American general, politician, 14th Vice President of the United States)
- 1996 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson (American singer, guitarist)
Johnny “Guitar” Watson - 2011 – Harmon Killebrew (American baseball player)
