1805 – US Marines attack shores of Tripoli.
1861 – US President Abraham Lincoln suspends writ of habeas corpus (US Civil War).
1865 – Steamboat “SS Sultans” explodes in the Mississippi River, killing up to 1,800 of the 2,427 passengers in the greatest maritime disaster in United States history. Most were paroled Union POWs on their way home.
1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes removes Federal troops from LA, Reconstruction begins.
1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore (for the time being) of the United States Senate.
1937 – 1st US social security payment made.
1946 – 1st radar installed aboard a commercial ship.
1950 – “Tickets, Please” opens at Coronet Theater NYC for 245 performances.
1956 – Heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated from boxing.
1961 – NASA launches Explorer 11 into Earth orbit to study gamma rays.
1965 – RC Duncan patents “Pampers” disposable diaper.
1972 – NYC Mayor John Lindsey appeals that John Lennon not be departed.
1978 – Cooling tower collapse at a coal-fired power plant at Willow Island, West Virginia, kills 51.
1983 – Nolan Ryan becomes strikeout king (3,509) passing Walter Johnson.
1984 – Over 70 inches of snow falls on Red Lake Montana.
1990 – 50th annual barbershop quartet singing convention held (Michigan).
1997 – Frank Nobilo wins Greater Greensboro (NC) Chrysler Classic at Forest Oaks.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.
2011 – The deadliest day of the 2011 Super outbreak of tornadoes, the largest tornado outbreak, in United States history.
2011 – US President Barack Obama, coerced by incessant false “birther” accusations, publicly releases a copy of his birth certificate.
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