1896 – 1st demonstration of an X-ray machine in US (NYC)
1911 – 1st shipboard landing of an plane (Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania)
1929 – “NY Daily Mirror” columnist Walter Winchell debuts on radio.
1943 – US rations bread & metal – banning presliced bread reduce bakery demand for metal parts.
1944 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers were Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
1947 – Detroit Tigers sell Hank Greenberg to Pirates (for $25-35,000)
1948 – Ted Mack’s “Original Amateur Hour” begins, DuMont (later NBC/ABC/CBS)
1950 – Indians pitcher Bob Feller, after 15-14 season, takes $20,000 salary cut to $45,000, pay cut is Feller’s own suggestion.
1960 – US & Japan sign joint defense treaty.
1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes in Virginia, killing all 50 people on-board.
1962 – US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas.
1972 – 22nd NBA All Star Game, The Forum, Inglewood, California: West beats East, 112-110; MVP Jerry West, LA Lakers, G, hits a last-second, 20-foot game-winning jumper.
1975 – “Jeffersons” spinoff from “All in the Family” premieres on CBS.
1980 – Gold reaches $1,000 an ounce.
1981 – Iran accepts US offer of $7.9 billion in frozen assets.
1991 – Eastern Airlines goes out of business after 62 years, citing financial problems.
1993 – Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observed in all 50 states of the USA for 1st time.
2004 – NFC Championship, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia; Carolina Panthers beat Philadelphia Eagles, 14-3.
2013 – Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is indicted on corruption charges stemming from post-Hurricane Katrina business contracts and bribes.
2017 – NASA and NOAA announce that 2016 was the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 which itself topped a record set in 2014.