Today in History

  • 1765 – Britain enacted Quartering Act, which required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers
  • 1832 – Mormon Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio
  • 1837 – Canada gave its black citizens the right to vote
  • 1882 – German scientist Robert Koch discovered and described the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), and established germ theory
  • 1883 – 1st telephone call between NY & Chicago
  • 1894 – 37 miners killed at Franklin, Washington
  • 1906 – “Census of the British Empire” showed Great Britain ruled 1/5th of the world
  • 1937 – A bus blew a tire, went out of control, and killed 18 in Salem, Illinois
  • 1942 – US government began moving native-born citizens with Japanese ancestry into detention centers under Executive Order 9066, with intention of preventing home-grown espionage
  • 1944 – 76 Allied officers escaped from Stalag Luft 3 (the Great Escape)
  • 1955 – 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service
  • 1955 – Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opened for 694 performances
  • 1958 – Elvis Presley joined the U.S. Army (serial number 53310761)
  • 1962 – Mick Jagger & Keith Richards performed as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys
  • 1975 – Muhammad Ali TKOed Chuck Wepner in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
  • 1978 – Wings released “With a Little Luck”
  • 1980 – Capitol Records released some rare Beatles tracks on the LP “Rarites”
  • 1989 – Worst oil spill in U.S. history, Exxon’s Valdez spilled 11.3 million gallons off Alaska
  • 1991 – WrestleMania VII in LA Memorial Sports Arena, CA: Hulk Hogan beat Sgt. Slaughter for WWF Heavyweight title
  • 1994 – F-16 collided with a C-130 Hercules above an Air Force Base in North Carolina, 120 killed
  • 1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Two students, ages 11 and 13, fired upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people died and ten were wounded
  • 1999 – “The Matrix” film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeve, Lawrence Fishburne and Carrie-Ann Moss premiered
  • 2005 – US version of “The Office” created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, developed by Greg Daniels, starring Steve Carell and John Krasinski premiered on NBC
  • 2019 – Investigation headed by Special Council Robert S. Mueller found no evidence President Trump colluded with Russia in 2016 election