1964 A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles opens.

1962 First H-bomb explosion within the boundaries of the U.S at the Nevada proving grounds.

1944 The Day the Clowns Cried The worst tragedy in American circus history occurs when the big top tent at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus catches fire during a performance to a crowd of over 6,000. Most of the 169 deaths were caused by trampling as people stampeded out the exits. Arson was suspected as the cause.

1943 USS William D. Porter The Fletcher-class destroyer is commissioned.  In 1943, the USS Iowa with Pres. Roosevelt aboard, would narrowly avoid a torpedo accidently launched by the Porter.

1933 First Major League All-Star Baseball Game The game was played at Comiskey Park with the American League winning 4-2.

1930 Amelia Earhart The famed aviator sets a woman's international flight record by flying an average speed of 181.18 mph over a 64 mile course.

1928 Hail stones measuring 5½ inches in diameter and weighing 1½ pounds fall in Potter, Nebraska.

1928 First all-talking motion picture The Lights of New York premiers in New York City.

1854 Republican party is formed, when a Detroit convention of the Whigs and Free Soil party adopts their new name.

1787 First coin authorized by the Continental Congress, a copper Franklin cent, designed by Benjamin Franklin. Source: Famous First Facts

1785 The dollar is adopted as the unit of U.S. currency by the Continental Congress. Source: Famous First Facts

1954 Allyce Beasly American actress. TV: Moonlighting (the rhyming receptionist Agnes di Pesto).

1946 Sylvester Stallone American actor, star of the Rocky and Rambo movies.

1946 George Walker Bush 43rd U.S. President (2001-09).

1946 Fred Dryer American football player, actor. TV: Hunter (title role).

1945 Burt Ward American actor. TV: Batman (Robin the boy wonder).

1937 Ned Beatty American actor. Film: Deliverance (1972). TV: Roseanne (Dan's Father).

1931 Della Reese (Delloreese Patricia Early), American singer. Music: Don't You Know (1959, #2).

1927 Janet Leigh (Jeanette Morrison), American actress. Film: Psycho (1960, shower scene victim).

1925 Merv Griffin American TV executive, creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

1925 Bill Haley d. 1981 American rock 'n' roll pioneer. Music: Rock Around the Clock (1954, #1).

1922 William Schallert American actor. TV: The Patty Duke Show (Patty's father), The Nancy Drew Mysteries (Nancy's father), and The New Gidget (Gidget's father).

1921 Nancy Reagan American First Lady, in her 1939 high school production of First Lady her only line read: "They ought to elect the First Lady and let her husband be president."

1918 Sebastian Cabot d. 1977 English actor. TV: Family Affair (Mr. French).

1911 LaVerne Andrews d. 1967 American singer, with the Andrews sisters.

1888 Annette Kellerman d. 1975 Australian swimmer, actress. She starred in the first sex-shocker movie, A Daughter of the Gods (1916). Earlier, in 1907, she had been arrested for wearing a one-piece bathing suit at a Boston beach.

1747 John Paul Jones d. 1792 Scottish-born American naval officer. He is known for his famous proclamation, "I have not yet begun to fight."

2003 Buddy Ebsen b. 1908 (Christian Ebsen Jr.), American actor. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (Jed Clampett) and Barnaby Jones (title role).  He was originally cast as the "Tin Man" in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but had to quit because he was allergic to the silver makeup.

1998 Roy Rogers b. 1911 (Leonard Franklin Slye), American singing cowboy, who appeared in movies and TV with Dale Evans and Trigger. TV: The Roy Rogers Show.

1971 Louis Armstrong b. 1901 American jazz musician, "Satchmo," the first and greatest solo jazz musician.

1967 Chief John Big Tree b. circa 1875 American Indian. He was the model for the Indian head nickel.

1962 William Faulkner b. 1897 American Nobel-Pulitzer-winning author, wrote The Sound and the Fury (1929), Sanctuary (1931), A Fable (1954), and The Reivers (1962, Nobel).

1932 Kenneth Grahame b. 1859 English author. Writings: The Wind in the Willows (1908).

1893 Guy de Maupassant b. 1850 French short-story writer, novelist. Writings: Boule de suif (1880) and Pierre et Jean (1888).

1851 Thomas Davenport b. 1802 American inventor. He built the first practical electric motor (1837).

1835 John Marshall b. 1755 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-35), and principle founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law. The Liberty Bell cracked whiled tolling his death.

1572 Sigismund II b. 1520 King of Poland (1548-72).

1553 Edward VI b. 1537 King of England (1547-53). He was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.

1189 Henry II b. 1133 King of England (1154-89), established trial by jury in England. He banned football, believing people were playing it too much and neglecting more important sports such as archery.

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