EVENTS
- 1504 – Michelangelo unveils his famous sculpture David in Florence.
- 1565 – The first Catholic settlement in America was founded by Spaniard Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles at St. Augustine, Florida.
- 1636 – Harvard University is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1883 – The Northern Pacific Railroad across the U.S. was completed.
- 1900 – A hurricane with winds of 120 mph struck Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 persons, making it the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The hurricane and tidal wave that followed destroyed over 2,500 buildings.
- 1935 – Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long was shot and mortally wounded while attending a session of the state House of Representatives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He died two days later.
- 1941 – The German Army began its blockade of Leningrad, lasting until January 1944, resulting in the deaths of almost one million Russian civilians.
- 1966 – Star Trek airs its first episode.
- 1974 – A month after resigning the presidency in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon was granted a full pardon by President Gerald R. Ford for all offenses committed while in office.
- 1986 – Oprah Winfrey Show airs for the first time. The widely popular daytime talk show hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey ran for 25 years and won over 45 Daytime Emmy Awards. The topic for the first episode of the show was titled “How to Marry the Man or Woman of Your Choice”.
- 1991 – The republic of Macedonia Declares its Independence From Yugoslavia. The landlocked Balkan country became independent after a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia was approved by about 96% of the voting public.
- 1998 – Mark McGuire breaks Roger Maris’ long standing record of 61 home runs in a single season.
- 2003 – 12-year-old Brianna LaHara is sued for sharing music illegally.
- 2015 – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Makes its debut. The comedian was a correspondent for the Daily Show and the host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central before he took over David Letterman as the host of The Late Show on CBS. The first show featured Presidential hopeful and former Governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush and actor George Clooney.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1157 – Richard the Lionheart (King of England)
- 1922 – Lyndon LaRouche (American politician, activist, founded the LaRouche movement)
- 1925 – Peter Sellers (English film actor, comedian, singer)
- 1932 – Patsy Cline (Country singer)
- 1954 – Ruby Bridges (Civil Rights Activist)
- 1970 – Latrell Spreewell (Basketball Player)
- 1971 – Brooke Burke (Model)
- 1970 – Neko Case (American singer-songwriter, guitarist)
- 1979 – Pink (Singer)
- 1981 – Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Actor)
DEATHS
- 1916 – Friedrich Baumfelder (German pianist, composer, conductor)
- 1949 – Richard Strauss (German composer, conductor)
- 2003 – Leni Riefenstahl (German director)
- 2006 – Peter Brock (Australian race car driver)
- 2012 – Thomas Szasz (Hungarian/American psychiatrist, academic)