1991—In a National Victory Celebration, Abrams tanks and 85° heat wreck D.C.’s Constitution Ave.
1967—Israeli planes and boats attack the unarmed U.S. spy ship Liberty with rockets, machine guns, and napalm; 34 sailors are killed, 171 wounded.
1966—Five U.S.A.F. jets fly in formation over Barstow, Calif., for a photo requested by GE marketers. Two crash, including the Valkyrie, worth $5 billion in today’s money. Two pilots die.
1956—Tech. Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. becomes the first U.S. serviceman to die in Vietnam. He’s murdered by a fellow American airman.
1952—“I would never send troops [to Vietnam],” says Pres. Eisenhower.
1944—U. Chi. Pres. R.M. Hutchins warns the GI Bill will turn “colleges [into] educational hobo jungles.”
1943—The Zoot Suit Riots end after military brass put L.A. off-limits and civil authorities impose a dress code.
1917—For safety purposes, a 1,200-foot electrical cable, insulated by oil-covered cloth, is lowered into Butte’s Granite Mountain mine. It drops in a heap 2,400 feet down, catches fire, and kills 168 miners.
1844—With odds against them 70 to 15, Texas Rangers slay 23 Comanches in their first use of Colt revolvers.
1783—The Icelandic volcano Laki explodes, releasing flourine which contaminates the grass. That kills the livestock, which causes a famine that kills one quarter of all Icelanders.