1555 – John Rogers was burned at the stake.  He was the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.

1789 – George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

1801 – John Marshall was sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

1824 – J.W. Goodrich introduced rubber galoshes to public.

1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorized the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.

1846 – The first Mormon pioneers made their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus, or “Sinai Bible,” was discovered in Egypt.

1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states met and formed the Confederate States of America.

1865 – Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of Confederate forces.

1866 – Religious leader Mary Baker Eddy reportedly cured her injuries by opening a bible.

1899 – The Philippine–American War began with the Battle of Manila.

1913 – Louis Perlman patented the first demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim.

1938 – Adolf Hitler appointed himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.

1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) was created to entertain American troops.

1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opened at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

1967 – “Wild Thing” cover version by “Senator Bobby” hit #20 on the pop singles chart.

1970 – “Patton”, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott, premiered in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1971).

1972 – Senator Strom Thurmond suggested John Lennon be deported.

1973 – Comic strip “Hagar The Horrible” by Dik Browne debuted.

1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ended another and derails, and killed 11 and injured 180, the worst accident in the agency’s history.

1977 – “Rumours”, the 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac, was released (Grammy Album of the Year).

1977 – Wings released their single “Maybe I’m Amazed”.

1980 – Studio 54 held its grand closing party on its last night in business.

1991 – Baseball’s Hall of Fame board of directors voted 12-0 to bar Pete Rose due to his betting on games while a player and manager.

1991 – Alex Trebek became first person to host three American game shows at the same time (Jeopardy!, Classic Concentration, To Tell the Truth).

1997 – O.J. Simpson was found liable in the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in a civil court action.

1998 – Bill Gates got a pie thrown in his face in Brussels, Belgium.

1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

2000 – Simulation video game “The Sims”, developed by Maxis, was released in North America.

2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

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