1890 – Ellis Island, New York, was designated as a site for the federal government to construct an immigration station.
1898 – President William McKinley asked Congress to declare war on Spain following the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor.
1907 – New York Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan became the first catcher to wear shin guards in a major league game.
1921 – Iowa imposed the first state cigarette tax of 2 cents per package.
1936 – Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto: The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 for a 3-games-to-1 series win for their first championship.
1945 – Four soldiers in the Sixth Armored Division of the United States Third Army liberated the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald, freeing thousands of prisoners, including Elie Wiesel.
1951 – President Harry Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of command in Korea after MacArthur made public statements criticizing Truman’s foreign policy.
1953 – United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created with Oveta Culp Hobby serving as the first Secretary.
1959 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale hit his second career Opening Day home run in a 6-1 loss against the Chicago Cubs.
1965 – 40 tornadoes struck six Midwest states, killing 272 people and injuring 5,000 in what became known as the Palm Sunday outbreak.
1966 – Frank Sinatra recorded “Strangers in the Night” as a single for his album of the same name. The single and the album both topped the Billboard charts.
1966 – Emmett Ashford became the first African American Major League Baseball umpire in the Washington Senators game against the Cleveland Indians at D.C. Stadium.
1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, prohibiting racial discrimination in housing and strengthening existing civil rights protections.
1975 – Hank Aaron returned to County Stadium as a Milwaukee player after his off-season trade from the Atlanta Braves. Aaron played his first 12 season with the Milwaukee Braves before the team moved to Atlanta.
1976 – The Apple I Computer, created by Steve Wozniak, was released. The initial retail price was $666.66, a price chosen by Wozniak because he liked repeating digits
1986 – Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to Earth during its outbound journey, reaching 39 million miles.
1998 – Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical “The King & I”, starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy, premiered at the Neil Simon Theater in New York City. It ran for 781 performances.
2012 – Billionaire Warren Buffett was diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer. It was detected in a routine test and was “not remotely life threatening.”
2019 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London by police and arrested on failure to appear in court on extradition charges brought by the United States.
2020 – Brazil was the first country in the southern hemisphere to report more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19, with 1,065 deaths and 19,638 cases.
Author: Sonny Jones
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