The Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York opened.
1892

The United States and China established diplomatic relations.
1979

Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1993

The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
1994

Former director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover was born.
1895

Author J.D. Salinger was born.
1919

Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. constitution.
1788

Bruno Hauptmann went on trial for kidnapping and murdering the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.
1935

President Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph.
1974

Oil prices rose to $100 a barrel for the first time.
2008

Actress Kate Bosworth was born.
1983

English general James Wolfe was born.
1727

The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.
1938

The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1961

The last new daily 'Peanuts' comic strip by Charles Schultz ran in 2,600 newspapers.
2000

NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the red planet.
2004

Football quarterback Eli Manning was born.
1981

Novelist J. R. R. Tolkien was born.
1892

Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state.
1896

Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.
1965

Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.
2007

Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper, the 2,717 foot-tall tower Burj Kahlifa.
2010

Physicist Sir Issac Newton was born.
1643

Educator Louis Braille was born.
1809

A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia.
1781

An Austrian newspaper reported the discovery of the X-ray by Wilhelm Roentgen.
1896

President Richard Nixon ordered development of the space shuttle.
1972

Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
2004

Actor Bradley Cooper was born.
1975

Former vice president Walter Mondale was born.
1928

Congress certified George W. Bush the winner of the 2000 presidential election.
2001

George Washington and Martha Curtis were married.
1759

Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated the telegraph.
1838

Theodore Roosevelt died at age 60.
1919

Mathematician Jakob Bernoulli was born.
1655

Poet Carl Sandburg was born.
1878

President Harry Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the U.S. had developed a hydrogen bomb.
1953

The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.
1959

Japanese emperor Hirohito died at age 87.
1989

President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial began in the Senate.
1999

President Millard Fillmore was born.
1800

Actor Nicolas Cage was born.
1964

Astronomer Galileo Galilei died at 77.
1642

President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty.
1964

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000 for the first time.
1987

Gabrielle Giffords was shot and critically wounded when a gunman opened fire as the congresswoman met with constituents in Tucson.
2011

Singer Elvis Presley was born.
1935

Singer David Bowie was born.
1947

The Surveyor 7 space probe became the last unmanned vessel to explore the moon.
1968

Apple Computer Inc. introduced its iTunes music management software.
2001

'The Phantom of the Opera' became the longest-running show on Broadway, surpassing 'Cats'.
2006

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone.
2007

Musician Jimmy Page was born.
1944

President Richard Nixon was born.
1913

Thomas Paine published the pamphlet 'Common Sense'.
1776

John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.
1870

The Beatles's first album in the U.S., 'Introducing the Beatles', was released.
1964

North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons.
2003

Singer Rod Stewart was born.
1945

Singer Pat Benatar was born.
1953

The Michigan Territory was created.
1805

Alabama seceded from the Union.
1861

The first planeload of al-Qaida prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at a U.S. military detention camp in Cuba.
2002

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to conquer Mount Everest, died at age 88.
2008

First Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was born.
1757

Actor Rod Taylor was born.
1930

The first public museum in the U.S. was established in Charleston, South Carolina.
1773

Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
1932

Led Zeppelin's first album was released.
1969

The sitcom 'All in the Family' premiered on CBS.
1971

Boxer Joe Frazier was born.
1944

Radio talk show host Howard Stern was born.
1954

Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland by Pope Paul VI.
1964

Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member when he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
1966

L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation's first black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond.
1990

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive.
2000

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born.
1966

Actor Patrick Dempsey was born.
1961

The U.S. ratified a peace treaty with England, ending the Revolutionary War.
1784

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) died at age 65.
1898

NBC's 'Today Show' premiered.
1952

A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Titan, one of Saturn's moons.
2005

Rapper LL Cool J was born.
1968

American patriot/traitor Benedict Arnold was born.
1741

England's Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1559

The Green Bay Packers won the first Super Bowl over the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
1967

Wikipedia made its debut.
2001

US Airways pilot Chelsey Sullenberger guided a jetliner disabled by birds flying into the engines just after takeoff from New York-LaGuardia Airport to a safe landing in the Hudson
2009

Rapper Pitbull was born.
1981

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was born.
1929

Prohibition began as the 18th Amendment took effect
1920

General Dwight David Eisenhower too command of the Allied invasion force in London.
1944

Two manned Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.
1969

Senator Barack Obama launched his successful bid for the White House.
2007

Baseball player Albert Pujols was born.
1980

Football player Joe Flacco was born.
1985

Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown.
1893

The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.
1946

President Rutherford B. Hayes died at age 70.
1893

Gangster Al Capone was born.
1899

Inventor Benjamin Franklin was born.
1706

Boxer Muhammed Ali was born.
1942

Navigator Captain James Cook became the first European to reach the Hawaiian Islands.
1788

The Soviets announced they had broken the long Nazi siege of Leningrad.
1943

Eastern Airlines shut down after more than six decades in business.
1991

The world's largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that could carry 800 passengers, was unveiled.
2005

Orator Daniel Webster was born.
1782

Author A.A. Milne was born.
1882

A presidential news conference was aired on TV for the first time.
1955

The U.S. and Iran signed an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for 14 months.
1981

The federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads after settling a wage dispute.
1944

An unmanned NASA spacecraft blasted off on a 3 billion-mile journey to Pluto.
2006

Inventor James Watt was born.
1736

Author Edgar Allan Poe was born.
1809

John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1801

Hong Kong was ceded to Birtain.
1841

The U.S. observed the first federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1986

Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States.
2009

Astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin was born.
1930

Comedian Bill Maher was born.
1956

The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus was launched.
1954

The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
1976

President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
1977

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was reprimanded and fined as the House voted fot the first time in history to discipline their leadeer for ethical misconduct.
1997

Attorney General Eric Holder was born.
1951

Golfer Jack Nicklaus was born.
1940

Russian troops opened fire on marching workers in St. Petersburg, killing over 100 in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.
1905

The Boeing 747 wen on its first regularly scheduled commercial flight, from New York to London.
1970

The Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation's first female Secretary of State
1997

Conan O'Brien ended his seven-month period of hosting 'The Tonight Show'.
2010

Singer Steve Perry was born.
1949

Hockey player Mike Bossy was born.
1957

Georgetown University was established in Washington, D.C.
1789

English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became thhe first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.
1849

The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
1950

The 24th amendment to the Constitution, which eliminated poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.
1964

American Revolutionary statesman John Hancock was born.
1737

Mathematician David Hilbert was born.
1862

The Voyager 2 space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet from the sun.
1986

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
1965

Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall died at age 84.
1993

NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars three weeks after its identical twin, Spirit.
2003

Singer Neil Diamond was born.
1941

Actor Ed Helms was born.
1974

Shays' Rebellion occurred when debt-ridden farmers tried to capture an arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1787

Alexander Graham Bell inaugurated a transcontinental service in the U.S.
1915

Gangster Al Capone died at age 48.
1947

American Airlines opened the Jet Age with the first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707.
1959

Confederate Army officer George Edward Pickett was born.
1825

Singer Alicia Keys was born.
1981

Congress passed an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol.
1802

'The Phantom of the Opera' opened at the Majestic Theater in New York.
1988

An earthquake hit India, killing more than 13,000 people.
2001

'Octomom' Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets
2009

Musician Eddie Van Halen was born.
1955

Hockey player Wayne Gretzky was born.
1961

The era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began.
1951

Astronauts Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard the Apollo 1 spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.
1967

Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
1880

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad.
2010

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.
1756

Chief Justice John Roberts was born.
1955

Space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds from liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.
1986

The United States ended direct control over Cuba.
1909

The Coast Guard was created.
1915

President George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had sought uranium from Africa.
2003

Pianist Arthur Rubinstein was born.
1887

Painter Jackson Pollock was born.
1912

Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven' was published.
1845

Kansas became the 34th state of the union.
1861

The first five members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named.
1936

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his first-ever vice president.
2011

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey was born.
1954

President William McKinley was born.
1843

James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.
1883

Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Ghandi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.
1948

The Beatles performed in public for the last time.
1969

Iraqis voted in their country's first free election in a half-century.
2005

Vice president Dick Cheney was born.
1941

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born.
1882

Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.
1865

U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-held Marshall Islands during WWII.
1944

McDonalds Corp. opened its first fast food restaurant in Moscow.
1990

The Senate approved Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
2006

Baseball player Jackie Robinson was born.
1919

Baseball player Nolan Ryan was born.
1947