1988—The Justice Dept. says “no entry” to a bike messenger in a T-shirt saying “Experts agree: Meese is a pig.”
1975—The Rockefeller Commission finds that the CIA’s CHAOS operation spied on 300,000 Americans and infiltrated political movements.
1968—The Supreme Court says cops can “stop and frisk” based on “reasonable suspicion.” [Or racist whim?]
1964—Muted by a tumor, weeks from death, Sen. Clair Engle [D-Calif.] points to his eye; his “aye” vote ends the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act.
1963—In a big speech JFK says he’ll negotiate with the USSR and seek world peace; 166 days later he’s dead.
1945—The mishap-prone destroyer William D. Porter evades a kamikaze off Okinawa but is over the sunken plane when it explodes. Though Porter sinks, all its crewmen survive.
1944—The Reds’ Joe Nuxhall gives up five runs in the 9th. Hey—he’s 15.
1940—Black nationalist Marcus Garvey dies of a stroke after reading his own obit in the Chicago Defender.
1886—At Neuschwanstein castle, Bavarian bureaucrats dodge the umbrella-wielding Baronness Spera von Truchseß to grab Mad King Ludwig.
1871—U.S. Marines avenge the ignominious 1866 loss of the armed merchant ship General Sherman by attacking a number of Korean forts on Gangwha Island, killing 243 Koreans in the process. Three months later the Americans withdraw.