1986—Reagan’s A.G., Ed Meese, attains quasi-legislative status for Presidential Signing Statements, which previously had had little impact, merely by persuading West Publishing to include them in law books.
1972—Near Danang, Battery B of the 82nd Field Arty. takes out four men from the 196th Inf. Bde. in the last major friendly fire incident of the war.
1967—His Tet Offensive plan OK’d by the Politburo, Gen. Nguyen Chi Thanh parties himself to death.
1954—As puppet Premier Diem arrives in Saigon, U.S. Gen. John W. O’Daniel, says “the war in Vietnam can be won without bringing in one single American soldier to fight.”
1950—FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover proposes permanent detention of 12,000 people “potentially dangerous to the internal security of the country.”
1905—Kentucky hangs Robert Mathley, but he’s six feet tall and the rope stretches. Officials with shovels dig until his feet don’t touch the earth.
1894—During a railroad-caused financial panic, striking railroad workers in Chicago are fired on by the National Guard under orders from Attorney General Olney—a railroad attorney; four are killed, 20 wounded.
1863—The U.S. starts selling draft exemptions for $100 in cash.
1844—Nativists and Catholics conduct an ecclesiastical dispute via bilateral cannon fire at St. Philip Neri’s in Philadelphia; seven perish.