1871 – The Great Chicago Fire kills an estimated 300 people and destroys over 4 square miles of buildings and the original Emancipation Proclamation.
1908 – NY Giants set season attendance record of 910,000 (broken in 1920)
1918 – American soldier Alvin York single-handedly attacks German gun nest, killing at least 25 and capturing 132 Germans.
1927 – “The Second Hundred Years” silent short film releases starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy – 1st Laurel and Hardy film with them appearing as a team.
1933 – Colt Tower dedicated in San Francisco as a monument to firefighters.
1940 – Baseball World Series: Cincinnati Reds beat Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Crosley Field for 4 games to 3 series win; Reds second championship.
1942 – Comedy duo Abbott and Costello launch their weekly radio show.
1944 – “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” debut on CBS radio.
1945 – US President Harry Truman announces atomic bomb secret shared with Britain and Canada.
1955 – World’s most powerful aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga, launched.
1961 – NY Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford breaks Babe Ruth’s record of 29-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series; he goes on to extend the streak to 33-2/3, which stands until 2000.
1971 – John Lennon releases his megahit single “Imagine”
1973 – OPEC meets with oil companies to discuss revision of 1971 Tehran agreement and oil prices; negotiations fail.
1981 – US President Ronald Reagan greets predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon before sending them to Egypt for Anwar Sadat’s funeral.
1985 – Little Richard seriously injured in a single car accident in Los Angeles.
1995 – Dolphin’s Dan Marino breaks Tarkenton’s NFL career completions record.
2001 – US President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
2012 – Film “Lincoln” directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, based on the biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin premieres.
2019 – FBI confirms Samuel Little is America’s most prolific serial killer, after verifying more than half of his 93 confessed murders.
2020 – FBI charge 13 men with plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and storm the Michigan Capitol.
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