1620 – Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod.
1789 – North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state.
1824 – First Jewish Reform congregation forms, Charleston, South Carolina.
1852 – Duke University, founded in 1838 as Union Institute, chartered as Normal College.
1865 – Shaw University forms in Raleigh, NC.
1922 – Rebecca L. Felton (Ga) sworn in as first female US Senator.
1945 – General Motors workers go on strike.
1946 – Harry Truman becomes 1st US President to travel in a submerged sub.
1949 – Bill Veeck sells Indians for $22 million.
1956 – Don Newcombe wins NL MVP & 1st-ever Cy Young Award.
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.
1974 – Freedom of Information Act passed by Congress over President Ford’s veto.
1980 – Dallas’ “Who Shot JR?” episode (Kristen) gets a 53.3 rating (83 million) in the US.
1980 – Fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84.
1989 – Law banning smoking on most domestic flights signed by US President George H.W. Bush.
1995 – Dow Jones closes above 5,000 for 1st time.
1999 – Elian Gonzalez, Cuban boy at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, departs from Cuba with his mother.
2013 – The Alabama parole board grants posthumous pardons to three members of the Scottsboro boys.
2017 – Pixar animation head John Lasseter takes 6 months leave of absence amid sexual misconduct claims.
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