1820 – Future Mormon church leader Joseph Smith has his “First Vision” in a wooded area of New York, according to Mormon scholars.
1872 – Thomas J. Martin, of Alabama, receives a U.S. patent for a pipe and valve fire extinguisher system.
1903 – American Hotel opens in Amsterdam.
1926 – First lip-reading tournament held in America.
1930 – Congress appropriates $50,000 for Inter-American highway.
1937 – Spinach growers in Crystal City, Texas, erect statue of Popeye.
1945 – Allies led by US Marine Corps secure island of Iwo Jima from Imperial Japanese Army, after 18,000 Japanese & 6,000 Americans killed.
1951 – United States Air Force flag officially adopted by President Harry S. Truman.
1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk announces that he has successfully tested a vaccine to prevent polio, clinical trials began the next year.
1955 – “Ballad of Davy Crockett” version recorded by Hill Hayes becomes #1 record in US.
1958 – 30th Academy Awards -“The Bridge on the River Kwai” wins Best Picture, Joanne Woodward & Alec Guinness win Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.
1962 – US Supreme Court backs 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in state legislature.
1972 – LA Lakers break NBA wins record by winning 69 or 82 games (69-13), record will stand for 24 years.
1982 – Groundbreaking in Washington, D.C. for Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1990 – 62nd Academy Awards: “Driving Miss Daisy”, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jessica Tandy win.
1995 – PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Lee Janzen wins by a stroke ahead of runner-up Bernhard Langer of Germany.
1999 – A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
2018 – US, European Union and Ukraine expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to Russian use of nerve gas in UK.
2018 – Porn star Stormy Daniels claims she had an affair with Donald Trump in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes and was later threatened to keep quiet.
2020 – American cases of COVID-19 exceed all other countries on this date, with 81,578 cases and 1,180 deaths (New York Times)
2020 – Record number of Americans file for unemployment – 3.3 million according to US Department of Labor.