2013—A fertilizer plant located next to a middle school in West, Texas, uninspected since 1985, explodes. Fifteen are killed, mostly volunteer firemen, 250 others are injured.
1986—Peace is declared between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, ending a bloodless 335-year war.
1986—Channeling his inner Nixon, Reagan pulls a limited hangout: yes, our Contra allies smuggled coke.
1970—Apollo 13 makes it home.
1967—“[T]he defeat of the Communist forces in South Vietnam is inevitable,” says ex-Veep Richard Nixon. “The only question is, how soon?”
1966—Timothy Leary is busted for pot possession by G. Gordon Liddy.
1965—In New York City, 25,000 march against the Vietnam War.
1961—The CIA escorts 1,511 Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs for slaughter.
1959—In Times Square, 22 weirdos are arrested for declining to participate in an air-raid drill.
1958—The Brussels World’s Fair opens, complete with a “human zoo” populated by 598 “evolved” Congolese, paradoxically dressed in “primitive clothing.” The spectacle is overlooked by a bust of Leopold II, whose reign was fatal to 10 million in Congo.
1905—SCOTUS: the amendment giving rights to slaves denies states the right to limit the length of work days.
1850—In the U.S. Senate, Henry S. Foote (D-Miss.) pulls a pistol on Thomas Hart Benton (D-Mo.).