1992 USS Saratoga mistakenly fires two missiles at a Turkish ship killing the captain and four crew members.

1992 The Cartoon Network debuts.

1992 Ross Perot The Texas billionaire re-enters the presidential race. He had "dropped out" of 2½ months earlier, during which time he spent $10,000,000 maintaining his campaign organization and creating new advertisements.

1987 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Union.

1979 U.S. International Development Cooperation Agency is established.

1979 Panama Canal Commission is established; its purpose is to maintain and operate the Panama Canal.

1975 Thrilla in Manila Muhammad Ali fights Joe Frazier for the 3rd time.

1962 First black University of Mississippi student James Meredith enters after 3,000 troops were used to put down riots.

1962 The Tonight Show gets a new host, Johnny Carson. His first guests were Groucho Marx, Joan Crawford, Mel Brooks, Tony Bennett and Rudy Vallee.

1961 CBN Pat Robertson's The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) goes on the air. CBN was the first Christian television network established in the United States. It used the call letters WYAH-TV, taken from the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh, which means "The One who causes (everything) to be."

1961 Baseball Roger Maris hits his 61st home run for the season, breaking Babe Ruth's 1927 record.

1961 Mr. Ed debuts.

1958 NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration officially begins operating.

1956 The Tonight Show gets a new host: Ernie Kovacs.

1955 First TV Spinoff The Honeymooners series debuts. It started as a series of sketches on DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars.

1947 First supersonic flight American WWII flying ace, George Schwartz "Wheaties" Welch, puts his XP-86 Sabre into a dive from 35,000 ft. achieving supersonic speed. Chuck Yeager would break the sound barrier two weeks later during level flight.

1919 Barney Google comic strip is first published in syndication.

1910 Los Angeles Times building is bombed Twenty-one people were killed.

1908 Model T Henry Ford's $850 automobile is introduced. It was capable of 40 mph and was available in "any color you choose as long as it's black."

1903 First World Series game Boston of the American League won the series against Pittsburgh of the National League five games to three.

1888 Jack the Ripper The "Saucy Jacky" postcard is mailed by a man claiming to have committed the Ripper murders. However, many authorities now believe the letter was a hoax by a journalist trying to sensationalize the murders.

1873 America's First trained nurse Linda Ann Judson Richards, having graduated from the Training School of the New England Hospital for Women and Children a month earlier, begins working at Bellevue Hospital, New York City.

1869 First postcards are issued, in Vienna, Austria.

1832 Telegraph Samuel F.B. Morse sets sail from Havre to America. It was on this trip that he conceived the idea for his greatest invention.

1953 Grete Waitz Norwegian runner, 9-time New York City Marathon winner (1978-80, 82-86, 88).

1950 Randy Quaid American actor. Film: The Last Picture Show (1971).

1946 Ewa Klobukowska Russian female athlete, first to fail a sex test (1967).  The I.A.A.F. declared her a male and took away the gold and bronze medals she had won in the 1964 Olympics. Several years later she became pregnant and had a child.

1935 Julie Andrews (Julia Elizabeth Wells), English actress, singer.

1928 Laurence Harvey d. 1973 (L. Mischa Skikne), Lithuanian-born American actor. Film: Room at the Top (1958, Joe Lampton), The Manchurian Candidate (1962, the assassin).

1928 George Peppard d. 1994 American actor. Film: Pork Chop Hill (1959) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). TV: Banacek (title role), Doctors' Hospital and The A-Team (Hannibal Smith).

1927 Tom Bosley American actor. TV: Happy Days (Mr. C.) and The Father Dowling Mysteries (Father Dowling).

1924 Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter), 39th U.S. President (1977-81). He is the only president to have reported seeing a UFO (1973) and the first president to have been born in a hospital.

1921 James Whitmore American actor. TV: The Law and Mr. Jones (Abe Lincoln Jones).

1920 Walter Matthau d. 2000 (Walter Matthow), American Oscar-Tony-winning actor. Film: A Shot in the Dark (1961, Tony), The Fortune Cookie (1966, Oscar), and The Odd Couple (1968, Oscar Madison). Quote: "I never mind my wife having the last word. In fact, I'm delighted when she gets to it."

1916 James Herriot d. 1995 (James Alfred Wight), Scottish veterinarian. His book All Creatures Great and Small (1972) was the basis for the popular BBC series.

1799 John Brown Russwurm d. 1851 American publisher. He co-published the first Negro newspaper in American (1827, Freedom's Journal).

1781 James Lawrence d. 1813 American naval officer. He made his famous proclamation, "Don't give up the ship" after being mortally wounded in battle during the War of 1812.

1207 Henry III d. 1272 King of England (1216-72).

1985 E.B. White b. 1899 (Elwyn Brooks White), American Pulitzer-winning author, essayist, Charlotte's Web (1952).

1972 Louis S.B. Leaky b. 1903 British anthropologist. He discovered the oldest-known manlike remains (1960), those of a 1,750,000-year-old juvenile.

1969 Thomas Francis, Jr b. 1900 American virologist, epidemiologist. He was the first American to isolate the virus influenza A (1934) and showed that there are other strains, such as influenza B (1940) and developed an effective vaccine against both strains. He also conducted the field trials of the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk.

1873 Sir Edwin Henry Landseer b. 1802 British artist. He was the first to portray St. Bernard dogs carrying brandy casks around their necks, although the real rescue dogs never did.

1404 Boniface IX b. ???? Italian religious leader, 203rd Pope (1389-1404).

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