1995—In Claremont, N.H., Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich shake hands and pledge to reform lobbying and campaign financing. Yeah, right.
1990—The Supreme Court rules flag desecration laws are unconstitutional.
1984—The Supreme Court gives prosecutors a new loophole for using illegally-obtained evidence.
1963—In Saigon, motionless, burning, Thich Quang Duc bends history.
1963—George Wallace takes a stand for segregation in the schoolhouse door—briefly; then he scuttles away.
1962—John and Clarence Anglin, with Frank Morris, escape from Alcatraz. Maybe they drown, maybe not.
1929—Forget Article One, Clause 3 of the Constitution, says Congress, the House shall have 435 members.
1920—Republicans meeting in the original “smoke-filled room” select, to their discredit, Warren G. Harding.
1914—A bomb explodes under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey; British suffragists are thought to be the culprits.
1851—Having, in four hours, caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced John Jenkins, the First San Francisco Vigilance Committee hangs him.
1837—Drunken nativist firefighters encounter Irishmen at a funeral: Boston’s Broad Street riot ensues.
1345—The Chief Minister of the Byzantine Empire inspects a new prison without his bodyguards. Political prisoners hoist his head on a pike.