2020—The lead item on all news broadcasts: the manufacturer has announced that, contrary to what the President has said, people should not inject themselves with Lysol.
1980—Eight Americans die and five are wounded trying to get American hostages out of Teheran.
1967—“The military situation [in South Vietnam] is favorable,” says Gen. Wm. C. Westmoreland, but protests at home might lose the war.
1967—Soyuz 1’s chutes fail; misfiring retro-rockets incinerate the remains of Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
1959—Michigan native Capt. John S. Lappo, piloting a six-engine RB-47, flies under the Mackinac Bridge at 425 mph; clearance: 155 feet.
1953—A B-29 with an F-84 bolted to each wingtip is inexplicably test-flown over Long Island Sound. The B-29 and an F-84 crash with no survivors.
1916—The Easter Rising: the Irish Republic is proclaimed in Dublin.
1904—A prohibition debate becomes a gunfight in Waller County, Texas courthouse square; four die, including Rep. John M. Pinckney.
1877—Reconstruction ends as Federal troops leave Louisiana. Best of luck, all you Black folks….
1778—Ranger, under John Paul Jones, captures Drake—the first U.S. victory over a British ship in British waters.
1704—John Campbell begins The Boston News-Letter, the first newspaper to succeed in the Americas.