1985—In Bitburg, Germany, Republican President Ronald Reagan lays a wreath at a cemetery full of Nazis.
1981—Bobby Sands dies of hunger in Maze Prison, defiant to the last.
1970—Jerry Rubin speaks at UNH.
1961—New Hampshire’s own Alan Shepard prays, “Please, dear God, don’t let me f__k up.” Prayer answered, he’s the 1st American in space.
1960—Gary Powers is a “civilian employed by Lockheed” piloting a “weather research plane,” says the U.S.
1955—U.S. TVs show a mock suburb complete with mannequins hit by a real nuke. The scorched, ragged figures are later displayed at J.C. Penney with a sign saying “This could be you.”
1945—The collier Black Point is torpedoed by U-853 within sight of the Point Judith, R.I. lighthouse.
1945—Sunday school picnickers in Bly, Ore., find a strange object. The Japanese balloon bomb explodes as they’re dragging it out of the woods, killing five Sunday school children and a minister’s pregnant wife.
1925—As local boosters had hoped, John T. Scopes is busted for teaching evolution in Tennessee. Prosecutors include a man named Sue K. Hicks.
1904—Cy Young pitches the American League’s first perfect game for the Boston Americans (later the Red Sox).
1886—In Milwaukee, Gov. Jeremiah Rusk orders 250 National Guard soldiers to fire on a crowd of strikers. They comply; seven die.