1900 – United States currency goes on the gold standard after Congress passes the Currency Act.
1910 – Lakeview Gusher, a massive oil well blowout near Bakersfield, California, released an estimated 9 million barrels of oil over 18 months, becoming the largest accidental oil spill in American history
1913 – John D. Rockefeller gives $100 million to the Rockefeller Foundation.
1922 – WGR-AM in Buffalo, New York begins radio transmissions.
1923 – President Warren G. Harding becomes first president to pay taxes.
1931 – The first theater built for rear movie projection, the Trans-Lux, opens in New York City.
1940 – 27 people killed, 15 injured when a truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen, Texas.
1950 – FBI’s “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” program begins, following a news story about the “toughest guys” the FBI sought to capture, initiated by a reporter’s question and the subsequent high public interest.
1954 – Future home run king Hank Aaron hits a home run for the Milwaukee Braves in his debut exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.
1958 – Recording Industry Association of American is created.
1964 – Dallas, Texas: Jack Ruby sentenced to death for Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder, who was the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, but the sentence was later overturned on appeal.
1972 – 14th Grammy Awards: Carol King’s “It’s Too Late,” Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Carly Simon, Isaac Hayes, Muddy Waters and Bill Evans win.
1983 – OPEC cut oil prices for the first time in 23 years, reducing it from $34 per barrel to $29.
1995 – First time 13 people in space simultaneously occurred when a Soyuz TM-21 mission launched, joining the Mir space station crew and the seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-67).
1997 – Olympic gold medal medalist Michael Johnson wins the 67th James E. Sullivan Award, recognizing him as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
2006 – Mike Wallace retires from news program “60 Minutes” after 37 years.
2013 – Xi-Jinping named the new President of the People’s Republic of China.
2017 – The world’s oldest golf club, Muirfield in Scotland, votes to admit women as members for the first time in 273 years.
2024 – A series of storms strike parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas, with tornadoes leaving at least 40 injured and three people dead.
Author: Sonny Jones
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