2018—SCOTUS gives states another excuse—voters failing to vote in an election—for wholesale voter purges.
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, Thich Quang Duc sits motionless as he burns.
1962—John and Clarence Anglin, with Frank Morris, escape from Alcatraz. Maybe they drown, maybe not.
1929—Congress says never mind the Constitution, henceforth the House shall have no more than 435 members.
1920—To its eternal discredit, the GOP puts Harding up for President in the original “smoke-filled room.”
1914—Suffragists bomb the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.
1866—“Mad King” Ludwig is dead. Suicide by drowning? Perhaps….
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.