2014: Jane Byrne, Chicago's first woman mayor, dies at 81. She led the city from 1979 to 1983. She won the office by upsetting incumbent Michael Bilandic in the 1979 Democratic primary, helped by voter anger over the city's slow response to a major blizzard that winter.
2002: Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman to lead a party in either house of Congress. House Democrats chose the California congresswoman to succeed Richard Gephardt as their leader. In 2007 she went on to become the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.
1972: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 for the first time. The index finished the day at 1,003.16, a milestone for Wall Street. The celebration was short lived, as the market slid into a deep slump during 1973 and 1974.
1970: A plane carrying the Marshall University football team crashes in West Virginia. Southern Airways Flight 932 went down on approach near Huntington while returning from a game, killing all 75 people aboard, including most of the team, coaches, boosters, and crew. The tragedy and the program's rebuilding were later told in the film We Are Marshall.
1969: Apollo 12 launches on the second crewed Moon landing mission. Astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean flew the mission, and the rocket was struck by lightning shortly after liftoff but kept going. Five days later Conrad and Bean landed on the Ocean of Storms near the earlier Surveyor 3 probe.
1965: The Battle of Ia Drang begins in South Vietnam. It was the first major clash between U.S. Army troops and regular North Vietnamese forces, fought in the Central Highlands by helicopter-borne soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division under Lt. Col. Hal Moore. The battle inspired the book and film We Were Soldiers.
1960: Six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrates a New Orleans elementary school. Escorted by federal marshals past jeering crowds, she began attending the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, becoming one of the youngest pioneers of school desegregation in the South. Norman Rockwell later depicted her walk in his painting The Problem We All Live With.
1922: The BBC begins daily radio broadcasts in Britain. The British Broadcasting Company went on the air from its London station 2LO. It became the publicly chartered British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927.
1915: Educator Booker T. Washington dies at 59. Born into slavery, he became the first leader of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, which opened in 1881. His autobiography Up from Slavery made him one of the most influential Black Americans of his era.
1910: Eugene Ely makes the first airplane takeoff from a ship. He flew a Curtiss biplane off a wooden platform built on the cruiser USS Birmingham near Hampton Roads, Virginia. Two months later he made the first landing on a ship, paving the way for aircraft carriers.
1889: Reporter Nellie Bly sets out to race around the world. Writing for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, she aimed to beat the fictional 80-day trip of Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. She made it back in a little over 72 days.
1885: The Serbo-Bulgarian War begins. Serbian King Milan Obrenović IV declared war on Bulgaria after it united with neighboring Eastern Rumelia. Bulgaria won a decisive victory at Slivnitsa, and the fighting was over within about two weeks.
1851: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is published in the United States. Harper & Brothers released the novel in New York weeks after it appeared in London under the title The Whale. It sold poorly in Melville's lifetime and was only hailed as an American classic in the 20th century.
1305: Clement V is crowned pope. The Frenchman, born Bertrand de Got, was crowned in Lyon. He later moved the papal court to Avignon, France, starting a period of roughly 70 years in which the popes lived there instead of Rome.
Born on This Day
1998: DeVonta Smith, American football player Turns 28. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver and 2020 Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama.
1993: Francisco Lindor, Puerto Rican baseball player All-Star shortstop for the New York Mets, formerly with Cleveland.
1982: Boosie Badazz, American rapper Turns 44. Baton Rouge rapper, formerly known as Lil Boosie, famous for “Wipe Me Down.”
1981: Vanessa Bayer, American actress and comedian Turns 45. Saturday Night Live cast member known for her Weekend Update characters.
1979: Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian-French actress Turns 47. Bond girl in Quantum of Solace and star of Oblivion opposite Tom Cruise.
1975: Travis Barker, American drummer Turns 51. Drummer for the pop-punk band Blink-182.
1974: Chip Gaines, American TV personality Turns 52. Co-host of HGTV's Fixer Upper with his wife, Joanna.
1972: Josh Duhamel, American actor Turns 54. Star of the Transformers films and TV's Las Vegas, and a North Dakota native.
1964: Patrick Warburton, American actor and comedian Turns 62. Played Puddy on Seinfeld and voices Joe Swanson on Family Guy and Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove.
1964: Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, American rapper Co-founder of the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC.
1962: Laura San Giacomo, American actress Starred in Pretty Woman and the sitcom Just Shoot Me!
1954: Yanni, Greek-American pianist and composer Instrumental star known for the concert film Live at the Acropolis.
1954: Condoleezza Rice, American political scientist and diplomat The 66th U.S. secretary of state and the first Black woman to hold the job.
1951: Stephen Bishop, American singer-songwriter Soft-rock hitmaker behind “On and On” and the Tootsie theme “It Might Be You.”
1948: Charles III, king of the United Kingdom Turns 78. Became king in 2022 after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
1935: King Hussein, king of Jordan Ruled Jordan from 1953 until his death in 1999 and signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
1933: Fred Haise, American astronaut Lunar module pilot on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission.
1908: Joseph McCarthy, American senator Wisconsin senator whose anti-communist crusade gave rise to the term McCarthyism.
1889: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman India's first prime minister after independence in 1947.
1840: Claude Monet, French painter Founder of Impressionism, famous for his water lily paintings.
