Today in American History 
Historical Events
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1851 Anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in serial form in "The National Era"
Cleveland Nominated for President
1888 US Democrats nominate Grover Cleveland for president
Bank of America Origins
1920 1st rivet driven on Bank of Italy headquarters at 1 Powell in San Francisco (later Bank of America)
US Golf Open
1925 US Open Men's Golf, Worcester CC: Scotsman Willie Macfarlane beats Bobby Jones by 1 stroke in a second 18-hole playoff for his only major title
Lacoste Wins 2nd French Title
1927 French Championships Men's Tennis: Hometown favourite Rene Lacoste wins 2nd of 3 French titles; beats Bill Tilden 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9
Weissmuller Sets Records
1927 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard freestyle swim record
British Golf Open
1931 British Open Men's Golf, Carnoustie: American based Scotsman Tommy Armour outlasts José Jurado of Argentina by 1 stroke to win his only Open title and his 3rd and final major championship
Ford's 32 Hour Week
1937 Henry Ford initiates a 32 hour work week
- 1940 A synthetic rubber tire exhibited in Akron, Ohio by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
- 1940 American Negro Theater organizes
Szabo vs Nagurski
1941 Sandor Szabo beats B Nagurski in St Louis, to become wrestling champ
- 1942 An explosion at the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant kills 48 people
Eisenhower Makes D-Day Decision
1944 After receiving favorable weather reports, General Eisenhower decides to proceed with the D-Day invasion on June 6
The Marshall Plan
1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the "Marshall Plan" to rebuild Western Europe
Ashburn's Sets Rookie Record
1948 Phillies Richie Ashburn sets NL rookie consecutive hitting streak at 23
Boxing Title Fight
1952 1st sporting event televised nationally - Jersey Joe Walcott beats Ezzard Charles in 15 rounds for heavyweight boxing title, at Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sports History
1955 NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits 550' HR off Chicago Billy Pierce
Television Finale
1956 "Milton Berle Show" last airs on NBC-TV
French Open Women's Tennis
1966 French Championships Women's Tennis: Ann Haydon-Jones of England beats American Nancy Richey 6-3, 6-1 for her 2nd French singles crown
Bobby Kennedy Gunned Down on Campaign Trail
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan assassinates Robert F. Kennedy, shooting him 3 times and wounding 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy dies the next day.
Sports History
1974 As' Reggie Jackson and Bill North engage in clubhouse fight at Detroit
- 1975 The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA), which establishes collective bargaining for farmworkers, becomes law
Belmont Stakes
1976 108th Belmont: Puerto Rican jockey Ángel Cordero Jr., riding Bold Forbes wins his only Belmont classic
- 1976 Teton Dam in Idaho burst causing $1 billion damage (14 die)
Sports History
1977 Los Angeles Dodgers retire future Baseball Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston's #24
Sports History
1981 Astro's Nolan Ryan passes Early Wynn as all-time walk leader (1,777)
- 1982 French Open Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats American teenager Andrea Jaeger 7-6, 6-1 for her first French singles crown
Sports History
1986 San Diego Padre Steve Garvey ejected for 1st time in his 16 year MLB career for arguing about Atlanta's triple play
Sports History
1987 Dwight Gooden returns from drug rehabilitation & allows wins game
Music City News Awards
1989 23rd Music City News Country Awards: Ricky Van Shelton & Randy Travis win
- 1993 French Open Women's Tennis: Germany's Steffi Graf wins her 3rd of 6 French singles titles; beats Mary Joe Fernández of the US 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Music History
1994 Spalding Gray's one-man show "Gray's Anatomy" opens an encore run at Beaumont Theater, NYC; runs for 8 performances
The Truman Show
1998 "The Truman Show", starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, and Ed Harris, is released
- 1998 A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks)
- 2001 Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
- 2001 U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party, an act which shifts control of the United States Senate from the Republicans to the Democratic Party
- 2012 American gubernatorial recall election is held in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker wins and becomes the first governor to survive a recall election.
CMT Music Awards
2013 12th CMT Video Music Awards: Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert. and Blake Shelton win
Country Music Association Awards
2013 47th Country Music Association Awards: George Strait, Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton win
Historic Publication
2013 The first article based on NSA leaked documents by Edward Snowden are published by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK
Sports History
2015 Alex Puccio sustains a knee injury during the IFSC World Cup competition in Vail, Colorado, requiring surgery
- 2017 Puerto Rico declares its Zika virus epidemic over
Sports History
2018 American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. named 2017 top earning sportsperson by Forbes with $285 million
Film & TV History
2018 Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in court in New York
- 2018 US Judge Aaron Persky, criticized for his leniency towards campus sex attacker Brock Turner, becomes the 1st judge voted out in 80 years in Santa Clara, California
Event of Interest
2018 US President Donald Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant children from their families violates international law according to the UN
- 2019 18th CMT Video Music Awards: Carrie Underwood, and Kane Brown win
- 2019 Ohio doctor William Husel charged with 25 counts of murder for prescribing potentially fatal doses of opioids in Franklin County
Music History
2022 American rocker Bruce Springsteen joins British rock band Coldplay for two songs (The Land of Hope and Dreams; Dancing in the Dark) at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Pence Runs for President
2023 Former US Vice President Mike Pence declares his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination [1]
American History Timeline
Famous Birthdays
- 1823 George Thorndike Angell, American lawyer and advocate for the humane treatment of animals (ASPCA), born in Southbridge, Massachusetts (d. 1909)
- 1825 Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, American politician (Rep-Ala, 1857-61), born in Lincoln County, Georgia (d. 1903)
- 1827 Beverly Holcombe Robertson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Amelia County, Virginia (d. 1910)
- 1831 Marcus Joseph Wright, American lawyer and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Purdy, Tennessee (d. 1922)
- 1850 Pat Garrett, American Western lawman, born in Chambers County, Alabama (d. 1908)
Jack Chesbro (1874-1931)
American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (MLB wins leader 1902, 04 [41 wins], NY Highlanders), born in North Adams, Massachusetts
- 1878 William Franklin "Frank" Smith, American actor (Cowboy & Bandit, Scarlet Car, Frontier Days), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1961)
- 1887 Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (Patterns of Culture), born in New York City (d. 1948)
- 1892 Alexander Loudon, Dutch diplomat (Ambassador to Washington) (d. 1953)
- 1895 William Boyd, American film actor, cowboy hero (Hopalong Cassidy), born in Hendrysburg, Ohio (d. 1972)
- 1912 Dean Amadon, American ornithologist, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2003)
- 1914 Stan Jones, American songwriter ("Ghost Riders in the Sky"), and actor (Rio Grande, The Sheriff of Cochise), born in Douglas, Arizona (d. 1963)
- 1919 Richard Scarry, American children's author and illustrator (What Do People Do All Day?), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1994)
- 1923 Daniel Pinkham, American organist, composer (Signs of the Zodiac) and educator (New England Conservatory), born in Lynn, Massachusetts (d. 2006)
- 1928 Don Chargin, American boxing promoter (IBHOF; Bobby Chacon, Tony "The Tiger" Lopez, Loreto Garza), born in Santa Clara, California (d. 2018)
- 1928 Robert Lansing [Brown], American stage and screen actor (12 O'Clock High; The Equalizer), born in San Diego, California (d. 1994)
- 1934 Bill Moyers, American news commentator (Bill Moyers' Journal) and White House Press Secretary, born in Hugo, Oklahoma
- 1934 Curt Michel, American astrophysicist and NASA astronaut, born in LaCrosse Wisconsin (d. 2015)
- 1937 Floyd Butler, American soul singer (Friends of Distinction - "Grazing In The Grass"), born in San Diego, California (d. 1990)
Robert Kraft (83rd Birthday)
1941 American owner of the New England Patriots, born in Brookline, Massachusetts
Spalding Gray (1941-2004)
American actor (Beaches, Clara's Heart, Heavy Petting), born in Providence, Rhode Island
John Carlos (79th Birthday)
1945 American sprinter who performed the black power salute while accepting his Olympic bronze medal in 1968, born in Harlem, New York
- 1946 Frederick "Freddie" Stone, American rock guitarist (Sly & The Family Stone - "Dance To The Music"), born in Vallejo, California
- 1947 Laurie Anderson, American violinist, composer, and avant-garde artist ("O Superman"; "Let X=X"), born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
- 1950 J. J. Bittenbinder, American television host and author
Suze Orman (73rd Birthday)
1951 American financial advisor, author and TV personality and author (The Suze Orman Show), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1952 Carole Fredericks, American singer (Fredericks Goldman Jones), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 2001)
- 1952 Daniel Katzen, American French horn player (Boston Symphony, 1979-2008), and teacher (University of Arizona, 2008-), born in Rochester, New York
Kathleen Kennedy (71st Birthday)
1953 American film producer (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park) President of Lucasfilm (2012-), born in Berkeley, California
- 1954 Nancy Stafford [Nancy Elizabeth], American actress (Joan-St Elsewhere, 1977 Miss Florida), born in Wilton Manors, Florida
- 1960 Leslie Hendrix, American actress (Law & Order), born in San Francisco, California
- 1961 Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (d. 1999)
- 1962 Jeff Garlin, American stand-up comedian and actor (The Goldbergs - "Murray"; Curb Your Enthusiasm - "Jeff"), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1964 Karl Sanders, American heavy metal guitarist and singer (Nile), born in Greenville, South Carolina
- 1965 Karen Sillas, American actress (Prime Suspect), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1966 Bill Spiers, American infielder (Houston Astros), born in Orangeburg, South Carolina
- 1967 Ron Livingston, American actor (Band of Brothers), born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- 1969 Brian McKnight, American R&B singer-songwriter and musician, born in Buffalo, New York
Mark Wahlberg (53rd Birthday)
1971 American singer (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and actor (Boogie Nights, The Departed), born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1972 Chuck Klosterman, American journalist, born in Breckenridge, Minnesota
- 1972 Mike Bucci, American professional wrestler
- 1973 Lamon Brewster, American boxer (WBO heavyweight title 2004-2006), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- 1974 Chad Allen [Lazzari], American actor (David-Our House, St Elsewhere), born in Cerritos, California
- 1977 Christian Martucci, American musician (Stone Sour), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1977 Liza Weil, American actress (Gilmore Girls), born in Passaic, New Jersey
- 1977 Navi Rawat, American actress (The O.C.), born in Malibu, California
- 1979 Jason White, American NASCAR driver, born in Richmond, Virginia
- 1979 Pete Wentz, American musician (Fall Out Boy), born in Wilmette, Illinois
Breonna Taylor (1993-2020)
African American medical technician who was shot and killed by police officers in her home, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Famous Weddings
Samuel Colt
1856 American industrialist and firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt (41) weds American philanthropist Elizabeth Hart Jarvis (29) at Christ Episcopal Church in Middleton, Connecticut, until his death in 1862
Agnes Moorehead
1930 Actress Agnes Moorehead (29) weds actor Jack G. Lee (28)
Red Auerbach
1941 NBA coach Red Auerbach (23) weds Dorothy Lewis
Muddy Waters
1979 American blues musician Muddy Waters (64) weds Marva Jean Brooks (25) in Chicago
Michael Keaton
1982 Actor Michael Keaton (30) weds actress Caroline McWilliams (37)
Mariah Carey
1993 American pop singer Mariah Carey (24) weds Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola (43), at St. Patrick's cathedral in New York City; divorced 1998
Reese Witherspoon
1999 Actress Reese Witherspoon (23) weds actor Ryan Phillippe (24) at the Old Wide Awake Plantation along the Sono River in Charleston, South Carolina
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony
2004 American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez (34) weds American salsa artist Marc Anthony (35) in Beverly Hills, California; divorce in 2014
Rush Limbaugh
2010 Radio personality Rush Limbaugh (59) weds wife No. 4, event planner Kathryn Rogers (33), at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida
Famous Deaths
Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893)
American-Canadian anti-slavery campaigner, suffragist and 1st African American newspaper publisher ("The Provincial Freeman"), dies of stomach cancer at 69 [1]
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
American novelist (Red Badge of Courage), dies at 28
- 1902 Louis J. Weichmann, American clerk who was the chief witness in the trial of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, dies at 59
O. Henry (1862-1910)
American short story writer (Cabbages and Kings), dies of cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes complications and an enlarged heart at 47
- 1916 Mildred J. Hill, American composer and musician ("Good Morning To All" which later became "Happy Birthday To You"), dies at 56
- 1930 Jules Pascin [Julius Pincas], Bulgarian-American painter and cartoonist, commits suicide at 45
- 1931 John Lawson Stoddard, American lecturer, photographer, and author, considered the father of travelogue, dies at 81
Bill Tilden (1893-1953)
American tennis player (US Open 1920-25, 29; Wimbledon 1920-21, 30; French 1927, 30), dies of a heart attack at 60
- 1953 Roland Young, English American actor (David Copperfield, Irene, Dulcy), dies at 65
- 1953 William Farnum, American actor (Drifter, Scarlet Letter), dies at 76
- 1965 Thornton W. Burgess, American conservationist and author (The Bedtime Story-Books; Now I Remember: Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist), dies at 91
- 1966 Natacha Rambova [Winifred Shaughnessy], American film costume designer, 2nd wife of Rudolph Valentino (1923-25), and Egyptologist, dies of a heart attack at 69
- 1967 Edna Park Edwards, American stage and vaudeville actress, dies at 72
- 1970 Jay Irving, American cartoonist (Draw Me a Laugh), dies at 69
- 1973 Max Terhune, American actor (Range Justice, Night Riders), dies at 82
- 1976 Violet Wilkey, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1977 "Sleepy" John Estes, American Blues musician ("Drop Down Mama"), dies at 78
- 1988 Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., African-American chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1981-88), dies at 57
- 1990 Jim Hodder, American drummer, and singer (Steely Dan, 1972-74), drowns in his home swimming pool at 42
- 1992 Max Lerner, American journalist (NY Post) and educator, dies at 88
Conway Twitty (1933-1993)
American country and rockabilly singer-songwriter ("Linda On My Mind"; "Honky Tonk Heroes"), dies in surgery at 59
- 1994 Ish Kabbible [Merwyn A Bogue], American comedian and cornetist (Kay Kyser), dies at 86
- 1996 Vito Scotti [Scozarri], American actor (The Godfather, Flying Nun, Barefoot in the Park), dies of lung cancer at 78
- 1998 Alfred Kazin, American writer and literature critic (The Inmost Leaf), dies at 83
- 1998 Jeanette Nolan, American actress (Richard Boone Show, Virginian), dies following a stroke at 86
- 1998 Sam Yorty, American politician, Mayor of Los Angeles (1961-73), dies at 88
- 1999 Mel Tormé, American singer (The Velvet Fog) and composer (The Christmas Song), dies at 73
- 2000 Don Liddle, American baseball player, dies at 75
- 2002 Curtis Amy, American jazz musician (Way Down), dies at 72
- 2002 Dee Dee Ramone [Douglas Colvin], American punk rock bassist (Ramones. 1974-89 - "I Wanna Be Sedated"), dies of a heroin overdose at 51
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
40th US President (Republican: 1981-89) and actor (Bedtime for Bonzo), dies at 93
- 2006 Frederick Franck, American artist and writer (b. 1909)
- 2009 Jeff Hanson, American singer-songwriter, dies of a drug overdose at 31
- 2009 Richard Jacobs, American real estate developer, philanthropist, and sports team owner (Cleveland Indians, 1986-99), dies at 83
- 2012 Ray Bradbury, American author (Fahrenheit 451), dies at 91
- 2016 Phyllis Curtin, American soprano (NYC Opera), dies at 94
- 2018 Kate Spade, American fashion designer, commits suicide by hanging at 55
- 2019 Robert Earle, American TV host (GE College Bowl), dies at 93
- 2020 Kurt Thomas, American gymnast (first American male to win gold medal at World Championships, floor 1978; floor, horizontal bars 1979), dies from a stroke at 64
- 2022 Alec John Such [Szűcs], American rock bassist (Bon Jovi, 1983-94 - "Wanted Dead or Alive"), dies at 70
Robert Hanssen (1944-2023)
American FBI agent and Soviet spy, dies of natural causes in prison at 79 [1]
Abraham Lincoln
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Frederick Douglass
George Washington
Martin Luther King Jr.
Thomas Edison