1851 – Fire devastates the US Library of Congress in Washington, destroys 35,000 volumes.
1877 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the phonograph.
1893 – Henry Ford completes his first useful petrol/gasoline engine.
1895 – George Vanderbilt opens Biltmore estate, the largest privately owned house in America at 178,930 square feet in Asheville, North Carolina.
1912 – Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards.
1936 – 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California.
1941 – First ships of Admiral Nagumo’s Pearl Harbor fleet return to Japan.
1948 – First US completely solar heated house is occupied (Dover, Mass)
1956 – “I Love Lucy” Christmas show airs, never put in syndication.
1961 – AFL Championship, Balboa Stadium, San Diego; Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3; Billy Cannon scored game’s only TD.
1966 – USAF C144 military charter aircraft crashes near Binh Thai, Vietnam, killing 129.
1970 – Walt Disney releases animated musical “The Aristocats” featuring voices of Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Hermilone Baddeley, Sterling Holloway, and Scatman Crothers.
1974 – Former US astronaut John Glenn joins the US Senate for Ohio.
1980 – Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds.
1992 – US President George H.W. Bush pardons Casper Weinberger for Iran-contra affair.
1990 – Saddam Hussein says Israel will be Iraq’s 1st target.
2000 – The Texas 7 holds up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.
2001 – “Time Magazine” names New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ‘Person of the Year’, for leadership after 9/11 attacks.
