On this day for the United States
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Events
- 1806 – The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
- 1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen.
- 1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
- 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
- 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry (DD-25) makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
- 1943 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago (CA-29) is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.
- 1944 – World War II: United States troops land on Majuro.
- 1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: 126 American Rangers and Filipino resistance liberate 500 prisoners from the Cabanatuan POW camp.
- 1956 – American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1964 – Ranger program: Ranger 6 is launched.
- 1971 – Carole King's Tapestry album is released, it would become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide.
- 1974 – Pan Am Flight 806 crashes near Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa, killing 97.
- 1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary was established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
- 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".
- 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
- 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
Births
- 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
- 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
- 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
- 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
- 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
- 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and statesman, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
- 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
- 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
- 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
- 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
- 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
- 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
- 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
- 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States
- 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
- 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
- 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
- 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer
- 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
- 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
- 1962 – Mary Kay Letourneau, American child rapist (d. 2020)
- 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
- 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
- 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
- 1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
Deaths
- 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
- 1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
- 1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
- 1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
- 1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
- 1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
- 1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
- 1982 – Lightnin' Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
- 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American author and activist (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and academic (b. 1950)
- 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Frank Aschenbrenner, American football player and soldier (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
- 2013 – George Witt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2014 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Arthur Rankin, Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (b. 1923)
- 2016 – Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (b. 1923)
- 2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (b. 1982)
- 2019 – Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)