EVENTS
- 1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
- 1845 – The first Anglo-Sikh War in India began as the Sikhs attacked British colonial forces. The Sikhs were defeated after four battles. Part of the Punjab region of northwestern India was then annexed by the British.
- 1901 – The first transatlantic radio signal was transmitted by Guglielmo Marconi from Cornwall, England, to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
- 1936 – King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England to marry “the woman I love,” a twice-divorced American named Wallis Warfield Simpson. They were married in France on June 3, 1937, and then lived in Paris.
- 1941 – In WWII, U.S. declares war on Germany and Italy. The U.S. responded to Italy and Germany’s declaration of war, by declaring war on the two countries.
- 1946 – UNICEF established. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a U.N. affiliate organization that works for the welfare of children around the world, was founded on this day.
- 1961 – Melvin Calvin Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the process of photosynthesis.
- 1981 – Muhammad Ali fights his last boxing match and is defeated by Trevor Berbick.
- 1994 – Russia sent tanks and troops into Chechnya to end the rebel territory’s three-year drive for independence.
- 1997 – Kyoto Protocol adopted. The Protocol is a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international treaty that calls for the restriction of greenhouse gasses by the signatories. The United States signed the treaty but did not ratify it.
- 1998 – The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment charging President Bill Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice.
- 2008 – Bernard Madoff arrested. Popularly known as Bernie Madoff, the founder and chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested and subsequently convicted of fraud. The Ponzi scheme he was involved in was the biggest such fraud in the history of the United States.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1725 – George Mason (American Patriot)
- 1882 – New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882-1947) was born in New York City. A beloved, gregarious politician, “The Little Flower” (the meaning of Fiorello) served as a U.S. Congressman and was then elected three times as mayor of New York City beginning in 1933. He was a liberal Republican who supported organized labor, women’s rights and child labor laws. As mayor of New York, he reformed the city government and battled corruption, but kept his sense of humor “When I make a mistake it’s a beaut!” he once joked.
- 1931 – Rita Moreno (Actress)
- 1943 – John Kerry (US (Senator/Presidential Candidate)
- 1944 – Terri Garr (Actress)
- 1967 – Mo’Nique (American comedian, actress)
- 1969 – Viswanathan Anand (Indian chess player)
- 1973 – Mos Def (American rapper, actor)
- 1996 – Hailee Steinfeld (Actress)
DEATHS
- 1918 – Ivan Cankar (Slovenian poet, playwright)
- 1959 – Jim Bottomley (American baseball player, sportscaster)
- 1997 – Eddie Chapman (English spy)
- 2008 – Bettie Page (American model, actress)
- 2012 – Ravi Shankar (Indian/American sitar player, composer)