1461 – Edward IV secured his claim to the English thrown by defeating Henry VI’s Lancastrians at the battle of Towdon.
1638 – First permanent European settlement in Delaware was established.
1847 – U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott took possession of the Mexican stronghold at Vera Cruz.
1848 – Niagara Falls stopped flowing for one day due to an ice jam.
1867 – The British Parliament passed the North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.
1882 – The Knights of Columbus organization was granted a charter by the State of Connecticut.
1901 – The first federal elections were held in Australia.
1903 – A regular news service began between New York and London on Marconi’s wireless.
1906 – In the U.S., 500,000 coal miners walked off the job seeking higher wages.
1913 – The Reichstag announced a raise in taxes in order to finance the new military budget.
1916 – The Italians call off the fifth attack on Isonzo.
1932 – Jack Benny made his radio debut.
1936 – Italy firebombed the Ethiopian city of Harar.
1941 – The British sank five Italian warships off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean.
1943 – In the U.S. rationing of meat, butter and cheese began during World War II.
1946 – Fiorella LaGuardia became the director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization.
1946 – Gold Coast became the first British colony to hold an African parliamentary majority.
1951 – The Chinese reject MacArthur’s offer for a truce in Korea.
1951 – In the United States, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed in June 19, 1953.
1961 – The 23rd amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment allowed residents of Washington, DC, to vote for president.
1962 – Cuba opened the trial of the Bay of Pigs invaders.
1962 – Jack Paar made his final appearance on the “Tonight” show.
1966 – Leonid Brezhnev became the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. He denounced the American policy in Vietnam and called it one of aggression.
1967 – France launched its first nuclear submarine.
1971 – Lt. William Calley Jr., of the U.S. Army, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial was the result of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.
1971 – A jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. The death sentences were later commuted to live in prison.
1973 – “Hommy,” the Puerto Rican version of the rock opera “Tommy,” opened in New York City.
1973 – The last U.S. troops left South Vietnam.
1974 – Mariner 10, the U.S. space probe became the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury. It had been launched on November 3, 1973.
1974 – Eight Ohio National Guardsmen were indicted on charges stemming from the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. All the guardsmen were later acquitted.
1975 – Egyptian president Anwar Sadat declared that he would reopen the Suez Canal on June 5, 1975.
1979 – The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by U.S. House of Representatives stated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.
1982 – The soap opera “Search for Tomorrow” changed from CBS to NBC.
1983 – Erno Rubik was granted a patent for his Magic Cube. (U.S. Patent 4,378,116)
1986 – A court in Rome acquitted six men in a plot to kill the Pope.
1987 – Hulk Hogan took 11 minutes, 43 seconds to pin Andre the Giant in front of 93,136 at Wrestlemania III fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI.
1992 – Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton said “I didn’t inhale and I didn’t try it again” in reference to when he had experimented with marijuana.
1993 – The South Korean government agreed to pay financial support to women who had been forced to have sex with Japanese troops during World War II.
1993 – Clint Eastwood won his first Oscars. He won them for best film and best director for the film “Unforgiven.”
1995 – The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment that would have limited terms to 12 years in the U.S. House and Senate.
1998 – Tennessee won the woman’s college basketball championship over Louisiana. Tennessee had set a NCAA record with regular season record or 39-0.
1999 – At least 87 people died in an earthquake in India’s Himalayan foothills.
1999 – The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 mark for the first time.
2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia became members of NATO.
2010 – In Japan, the Tokyo Skytree tower became the tallest structure in Japan when it reached 1,109 feet.
