1850 – United States population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808, 15.7%).
1880 – Wabash, Indiana is the first town to claim to be completely illuminated by electric lighting.
1906 – Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports. It became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910.
1918 – First daylight saving time in the United States goes into effect.
1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film for the next 38 years.
1932 – Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine.
1943 – United States errantly bombs Rotterdam in the Netherlands, killing 326.
1945 – US artillery lands on Keise Shima and begins firing on Okinawa, Japan.
1951 – US tanks exceed 38 degrees latitude in Korea.
1958 – USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests and urges United States and Britain to do the same.
1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson announces in an address to the nation that he will not seek re-election.
1971 – William Calley sentenced to life in prison for the Mi Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter deregulated the banking industry.
1988 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Toni Morrison for her novel “Beloved”.
1992 – Phoenix coach Cotton Fitzsimmons guides the Suns to a 128-111 home win over Portland to become the sixth coach in National Basketball Association history to record 800 career wins.
1998 – Expansion clubs Tampa Bay and Arizona both suffer losses in their debut. The Devil Rays lose 11-6 to the Detroit Tigers and the Diamondbacks fall 9-2 to the Colorado Rockies.
2004 – In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private contractors working for Blackwater USA are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed.
2008 – Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service.
2021 – New York state legalizes recreational use of marijuana in legislation signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Sales are not legal for 18 months.
2023 – Large storm system crosses the mid United States from Mississippi and Alabama to Illinois and Wisconsin, unleashing numerous tornadoes and leaving at least 32 dead.
Author: Sonny Jones
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