1620 – Pilgrim Fathers reach America: Provincetown Harbor, Mass.
1789 – North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state.
1852 – Duke University, founded in 1838 as Union Institute, chartered as Normal College.
1865 – Shaw University forms in Raleigh, NC.
1877 – Thomas Edison announces his “talking machine” invention (phonograph), the 1st machine to play and record sound.
1906 – China prohibits the opium trade.
1922 – Rebecca L Felton (Ga) sworn in as first female US Senator.
1925 – Red Grange plays final University of Illinois game, signs with Chicago Bears.
1934 – NY Yankees buy Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco Seals (Pacific Coast League)
1942 – Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuts in “Tale of Two Kitties”
1946 – “The Best Years of Our Lives”, film directed by William Wyler, based on MacKinlay Kantor’s novella Glory For Me, starring Myrna Loy and Fredric March, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1947)
1952 – 1st US postage stamp in 2 colors (rotary process) introduced.
1963 – US President John F. Kennedy flies to Texas (assassinated the next day)
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: “I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing”
1973 – US President Richard Nixon’s attorney, J Fred Buzhardt, reveals presence of 18 1/2 minute gap in a White House tape recording related to Watergate.
1980 – Fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84.
1980 – Dallas’ “Who Shot JR?” episode (Kristen) gets a 53.3 rating (83 million) in the US.
1989 – Law banning smoking on most domestic flights signed by US President George H.W. Bush.
1992 – Oregon Senator Bob Packwood issues apology for unwelcome sexual advances.
2004 – 56th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Kurt Busch wins.
2013 – “Happy” single is released by Pharrell Williams (Billboard Song of the Year 2014, Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance 2015)
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