EVENTS
- 1775 – The U.S. Marine Corps was established as part of the U.S. Navy. It became a separate unit on July 11, 1789.
- 1871 – Henry Morton Stanley finds the missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone saying the famous phrase “Dr. Livingston, I presume?”
- 1898 – Wilmington riots begin. Thought to be one of the only incidents of insurrection against a local government in the United States, the Wilmington Race Riots of 1898 or the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 began after an election voted in a biracial city council. In retaliation, white supremacists overthrew the council, destroyed a lot of property and killed many black people in the city over the course of a few days.
- 1903 – Windshield wiper patented. The US patent office granted inventor Mary Anderson a patent for automatic windshield wipers – a device that is used to remove or wipe the front and back windshields in automobiles.
- 1928 – Hirohito was crowned Emperor of Japan. He was Imperial Japan’s Emperor during World War II. Following Japan’s defeat, he was allowed to stay and remained Emperor until his death in 1989.
- 1938 – ‘God Bless America’ is sung for the first time live on the radio.
- 1942 – Following the British victory at El Alamein in North Africa during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
- 1951 – Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
- 1951 – North American numbering plan begins. The plan standardized distance calling and gave phone numbers in cities a fixed 3 digit prefix, also called an area code. This made making long-distance calls faster and easier and without the involvement of an operator. The first call under the plan was made between the mayors of Englewood, New Jersey and Alameda, California.
- 1969 – ‘Sesame Street’ premieres. Sesame Street, the long-running American children’s television series, premiered on TV stations.
- 1975 – The freighter The Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1483 – Martin Luther (German Protestant Reformer)
- 1759 – Friedrich Schiller (German poet, playwright, historian)
- 1925 – Actor Richard Burton (1925-1984) was born in Pontrhydyfen, South Wales, as Richard Jenkins. The son of a coal miner, he came to be regarded as one of the greatest acting talents of his day, although he never received an Oscar and was never knighted (He led a tempestuous personal life, highlighted by twice marrying actress Elizabeth Taylor. He died at age 58 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
- 1928 – Ennio Morricone (Italian composer, conductor)
- 1960 – Neil Gaiman (English author, illustrator, screenwriter)
- 1968 – Tracy Morgan (Comedian)
- 1977 – Brittany Murphy (Actress)
- 1983 – Miranda Lambert (Country singer)
DEATHS
- 1917 – Harry Trott (Australian cricketer)
- 1938 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Turkish army officer, politician, 1st President of Turkey)
- 1982 – Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet politician)
- 2007 – Norman Mailer (American author, journalist)
- 2015 – Helmut Schmidt (German politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany)