2005—Marines in Haditha murder 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women, and children. One Marine is tried for and convicted of dereliction of duty.
1967—A 500 lb. bomb from a Marine jet goes astray during the Battle of Dak To; 45 men from the 173d Airborne die, 45 are wounded.
1963—In Havana, Frenchman Jean Daniel, sent personally by JFK, finds Fidel Castro “cautiously receptive” to a rapprochement with the U.S.
1962—Dick “Dick” Cheney racks up his first drunk driving conviction, in Cheyenne, Wyo.
1960—At a party in New York City to celebrate the launch of his mayoral campaign, Norman Mailer stabs his second wife, Adele Morales, twice.
1932—A petition is signed by 19 of Germany’s top industrialists asking President Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor: Adolf Hitler.
1929—A Cisco, Texas mob busts Marshall Ratliff out of jail and lynches him behind a theater at which the play “The Noose” is running. The first rope breaks, the second doesn’t.
1924—Pioneering Hollywood producer Thomas Ince dies at 42, officially from a heart attack, but more likely from a [William Randolph] Hearst attack—a bullet to the head.
1915—A firing squad executes framed IWW organizer Joe Hill; his last words: “Don’t mourn, organize.”
1863—President Abraham Lincoln dedicates the cemetery at Gettysburg.