1970—At “Honor America” day in D.C., Billie Graham and Bob Hope preach and joke, protestors smoke pot atop a truck shoved into the Reflecting Pool, and neo-Nazis snarl and jeer.
1951—In Madison, Wisc., 99.2 percent decline to sign a petition containing excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.
1947—The Boozefighters, a subset of “The Greatest Generation®,” take over Hollister, Calif. Three days of debauchery inspire The Wild One and spawn a generation of poseurs.
1924—Four thousand Klansmen march in Long Branch, New Jersey.
1905—U.S. Sen. John H. Mitchell [R-Ore.] is found guilty in a complex swindle: drunkards got government land, to which timber companies got rights, with Mitchell taking a cut.
1892—The People’s Party meets in Omaha, calling for an 8-hour day, regulation of railroads and communication, and a graduated income tax.
1857—With N.Y.C’s two rival police forces distracted by a feud, the Dead Rabbits/Bowery Boys beef escalates into an unrestrained gang war.
1856—Federal troops under N.H. native President Franklin Pierce forcibly disperse the Topeka (Free State) Legislature of the Kansas Territory.
1835—A mob of 70 men gather in Canaan, N.H. carrying torches, clubs, and axes, but are dissuaded from destroying the bi-racial Noyes Academy.
1776—Independence commences.