1991 William Kennedy Smith is charged with the rape of a woman he drove to the Kennedy estate in March.

1989 Dan Quayle The U.S. Vice-President states in a speech to the United Negro College Fund: "What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or, not to have a mind is being very wasteful."

1982 Dean Martin is arrested for driving while intoxicated in West Hollywood.

1974 Watergate Impeachment hearings against President Nixon begin.

1950 Smokey Bear A bear cub is rescued from a New Mexico fire, becoming the symbol for forest fire prevention.. By 1964, his fan mail was so great that he was given his own zip code, 20252.

1944 First U.S. eye bank is opened. It was created through the efforts of New York physicians Dr. Richard T. Paton and Dr. John McLean.

1941 World War II - Enigma Germany's master coding machine is captured by the Allies allowing the Allies to decode secret German messages. The German's didn't find out until after the war.

1939 First American Indian beatified by the Catholic Church Kateri Tekakwitha is recommended. This was sanctioned by Pope Pius XII 10 days later.

1926 First flight over the North Pole American aviators Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett.

1920 Joan of Arc is canonized by Pope Benedict XV.

1893 First motion picture exhibition A crowd of 400 watched an Edison Kinetograph film of a blacksmith and his assistants working.

1879 First U.S. postage-due stamps are issued. They consisted of 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, and 5¢ denominations.

1754 First cartoon published in an American newspaper. "Join or Die" by Ben Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette. It depicted a snake cut into segments, each representing a colony.

1712 The Carolina Territory is divided into North and South Carolina.

1671 The crown jewels are stolen from the Tower of London by Irish adventurer Col. Thomas Blood who was disguised as a priest. Although he was caught shortly thereafter, King Charles II, who admired his daring, gave him a full pardon.

1607 First Protestant Episcopal Church in America holds its first Eucharist in Cape Henry, Virginia.

1949 Billy Joel American Grammy-winning singer, songwriter. Music: Piano man, (1974), It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me (1980, #1), Goodnight Saigon (1982), and Tell Her About It (1983, #1).

1948 Murphy Brown fictional investigative journalist and news anchor.  This is the same month and day as Candice Bergen who played the character.

1946 Candice Bergen American Emmy-winning actress.  TV Murphy Brown (1988-98, title character) and Boston Legal (2004-08, Shirley Schmidt).

1936 Glenda Jackson British Oscar-Emmy-winning actress, politician. Film: Women In Love (1969, Oscar) and A Touch of Class (1973, Oscar).

1936 Albert Finney British actor. Film: Tom Jones (1963) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

1918 Mike Wallace (Myron Wallace), American reporter. TV: 60 Minutes.

1912 Pedro Armendariz d. 1963 Mexican actor. Film: From Russia with Love (British spymaster Ali Kerim Bey). His death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of a movie in 1953.

1893 William Moulton Marston d. 1947 American psychologist, cartoonist, co-creator of Wonder Woman (1941) and inventor the lie detector.

1873 Howard Carter d. 1939 English Egyptologist, discovered King Tutankhamen (1922).

1860 James Matthew Barrie d. 1937 Scottish author. Writings: Peter Pan (1904).

1854 Joe Borden d. 1929 American baseball player, pitched the first National League no-hitter (1876, for Boston).

1800 John Brown d. 1859 American abolitionist, the Pottawatomie Massacre was committed by his men, and he led the attack on Harper's Ferry (1859), for which he was hanged.

1785 James Pollard Espy d. 1860 American meteorologist, founder of modern weather predicting.

1986 Tenzing Norgay b. 1914 (Namgyal Wangdi), Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He and Sir Edmund Hillary were first to summit Mt. Everest (1953).

1983 Anna M. Rosenberg b. 1902 Hungarian-born American government official. She was the first woman awarded the Medal of Freedom (1945).

1977 James Jones b. 1921 American author. Writings: From Here to Eternity (1951), which in 1954 was declared unmailable by the U.S. Post Office.

1968 Harold Gray b. 1894 American cartoonist, creator of Little Orphan Annie (1924).

1931 Albert Abraham Michelson b. 1852 German-born American Nobel-winning physicist. He was the first to measure the diameter of a star (other than the Sun). Working from the Wilson Observatory, California, he measured Betelgeuse (the bright red star in the right shoulder of Orion) to be 260 million miles in diameter.

1915 François Faber b. 1887 Luxembourgian cyclist, Tour de France winner (1909, winning 5 consecutive stages). He was the first non-Frenchman to win the Tour de France. During WWI after receiving a telegram announcing the birth of his daughter, he jumped for joy in his trench and was killed by a German bullet.

1864 John Sedgwick b. 1813 American general, killed in the Civil War battle of Spotsylvania. His last words were "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Source: The Civil War Day by Day

1657 William Bradford b. 1590 American historian, signer of the Mayflower Compact (1620). He is called "The Father of American History" for his writings of the early Plymouth Colony. He was elected governor of Plymouth Colony 30 times.

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