1903 – The Wright brothers attempt to fly the Wright Flyer for the first time at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1906 – The Pure Food and Drug Act is introduced in the United States Senate after lobbying by businessman Henry John Heinz.
1911 – Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s Antarctic expedition is the first to reach the South Pole.
1914 – President Woodrow Wilson signs the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act to regulate and tax production, importation, and distribution of opiates and cocoa products.
1930 – New York Giants defeat Notre Dame 22-0 in a charity game.
1944 – United States Congress establishes rank of General of the Army, five-star general.
1947 – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is founded in Daytona Beach, Florida.
1953 – Brooklyn Dodgers sign pitcher Sandy Koufax.
1961 – Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John” is the first country song to get a gold record.
1962 – Mariner 2 makes its first fly-by of another planet, Venus.
1969 – Jackson Five make their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
1980 – Minnesota Vikings pass for 456 yards against the Cleveland Browns, winning 28-24.
1984 – Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football.
1993 – “Philadelphia,” one of the first mainstream films about AIDS, directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, premieres in Century City, California.
2003 – President George W. Bush announces the capture of Saddam Hussein.
2012 – 28 people, including 20 children, are shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
2015 – “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Adams and starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Harrison Ford, has its world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
2017 – The Walt Disney Company buys most of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion.
2021 – American Covid-19 death toll passes 800,000 with more deaths recorded in 2021 than 2020.
Author: Sonny Jones
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