1842 – Ether used as an anaesthetic for 1st time by Dr. Crawford Long (Georgia)
1867 – Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre.
1910 – Mississippi legislature founded The University of Southern Mississippi.
1922 – WWL-AM in New Orleans, LA begins radio transmissions.
1940 – 2nd NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Indiana beats Kansas, 60-42; Hoosiers’ forward Marvin Huffman is named tournament Most Outstanding Player.
1945 – World War II; a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A to Americans.
1955 – 27th Academy Awards: “On the Waterfront”, Marlon Brando & Grace Kelly win.
1959 – Dalai Lama flees China and is granted political asylum in India.
1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
1972 – Revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical-comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, starring Phil Silvers, opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, NYC; runs for 156 performances and wins 2 Tony Awards.
1981 – 43rd NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Indiana beats North Carolina, 63-50; Hoosiers’ future Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas is named Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
1981 – President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinkley, three others are also wounded.
1984 – World’s most valuable tip – New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of a $1 lottery ticket, next day they win $6 million.
1988 – 2nd Soul Train Music Awards: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston win.
1990 – Jack Nicklaus makes his debut on the Senior PGA tour with a 71 (-1) in the first round of The Tradition at Desert Mountain, wins the event by 4 strokes from Gary Player.
2001 – At 15 years, 9 months American swimmer Michael Phelps breaks 200m butterfly world record at the US World Championship trials at Austin, Texas; becomes youngest male to set a world mark.
2012 – American Mega Millions lottery hits a world record lottery amount of $640 million.
2017 – North Carolina repeals its controversial bathroom law that restricted transgender use.
2020 – Three out of four Americans now ordered to stay home due to COVID-19 as states of Virginia, Maryland, Arizona and Florida issue lockdowns.
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