1903 – First direct primary election law in the United States adopted by Wisconsin.
1911 – New York Public Library building at 5th Avenue dedicated by President William Howard Taft.
1922 – Walt Disney incorporates his first film company Laugh-O-Gram Films.
1926 – Chicago Cubs’ Hack Wilson is first to hit a home run off Wrigley Field scoreboard.
1934 – American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow — Bonnie and Clyde — are killed by police in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana.
1948 – Future Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Joe DiMaggio hits three consecutive home runs as the New York Yankees edge the Cleveland Indians 6-5 at Cleveland Stadium.
1958 – Explorer 1 ceases transmission. It was the first US satellite launched into space in January 1958.
1963 – NBC purchases 1963 American Football League championship game TV rights for $926,000.
1974 – Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1977 – Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrongdoers H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Mitchell.
1981 – NASA launches Intelsat V satellite No. 501.
1984 – “Indiana Jones and the Temple Dome”, second in the film series, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford and produced by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm, premieres.
1985 – President Ronald Reagan awards Jimmy Stewart the Presidential Medal of Honor and promotes him to Major General on the Retired List.
1988 – Maryland law stops sale of cheap pistols on January 1, 1990.
1992 – President George H.W. Bush orders the Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees.
1997 – Mel Karmazin replaces Peter Lund as CEO of CBS-TV.
2007 – Singer-songwriter Paul Simon receives Library of Congress Gershwin Prize at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.
2014 – Russia and China veto the UN Security Council resolution to establish an International Criminal Court for war crimes in Syria.
2018 – National Football League owners approve the new national anthem policy whereby players are required to stand if they choose to be on the field for pre-game presentations.
2022 – President Joe Biden says for the first time he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.
Author: Sonny Jones
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