1621 – Myles Standish is elected as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony.
1801 – US House of Representatives breaks electoral college tie, chooses Thomas Jefferson President over Aaron Burr.
1878 – 1st telephone exchange in San Francisco opens with 18 phones.
1913 – 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon)
1915 – Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded.
1924 – American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller sets 100m world freestyle record 57.4 seconds at Miami, Fl.
1933 – First issue of American news magazine “Newsweek” is published.
1936 – The world’s first superhero, The Phantom, a cartoon strip by Lee Falk, makes his first appearance in comics.
1943 – NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio enlists into the US Army.
1943 – Dow Chemical and Corning Glass Works form a joint venture to explore and produce silicon materials, based off of the work of James Franklin Hyde.
1947 – Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR.
1957 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.
1964 – 101st member elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, Chicago White Sox shortstop Luke Appling.
1969 – Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash record an album, it was never released.
1970 – US Army officer Jeffrey MacDonald murders his pregnant wife and two small daughters.
1972 – Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceeds those of Ford Model T.
1985 – First class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents.
1991 – 33rd Dayton 500: Ernie Irvan, driving for Morgan-McClure Motorsports coasts to win after challengers crash on final laps.
2012 – 43rd NAACP Image Award: “The Help” wins Outstanding Motion Picture.
2016 – Chief Executive Tim Cook confirms Apple will contest FBI order to unlock the phone of San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook.
2019 – 61st Daytona 500: Joe Gibbs Racing goes 1-2-3: Denny Hamlin holds off reigning Cup Series Champion Joey Logano and teammate Kyle Busch to win his 2nd Great American Race.
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