1504 – Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians.
1692 – First people are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a West Indian slave.
1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1892 – Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea.
1904 – Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus.
1932 – TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William “Algalfa” Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
1940 – Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st black woman to win an Oscar.
1940 – 12th Academy Awards – “Gone with the Wind” wins eight Oscars, Robert Donat & Vivien Leigh also win.
1956 – President Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term.
1960 – 1st playboy club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago.
1960 – JFK makes “missile gap” the presidential campaign issue.
1964 – LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter.
1964 – NC high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13th overtime.
1968 – Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” wins Grammy.
1972 – Hank Aaron becomes 1st baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year.
1972 – Jack Anderson discloses Dita Beard (ITT) memo indicating antitrust charges were dropped for $400,000 contribution to Republican Party.
1976 – ABC-TV broadcast premiere of 1965’s hit “The Sound of Music”
1980 – Gordie Howe becomes 1st NHL player to score 800 career goals.
1988 – NYC Mayor Koch calls President Reagan a “WIMP” in the war on drugs.
2004 – 76th Academy Awards – “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” Sean Penn & Charlize Theron win.
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