1084 - Clement III, elected antipope in 1080 by a synod convoked by Henry IV, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1492 - Jews in Spain were given three months to accept Christianity or leave.
1854 - The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed between the United States and Japan, opening up the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to U.S. traders.
1870 - In the United States, Thomas Peterson-Mundy became the first black to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment (passed by Congress in February 1870) which required all Southern states to allow blacks to vote.
1880 - The first electric street lights installed by a municipality were turned on in Wabash, Indiana.
1889 - The Eiffel Tower in Paris was inaugurated.
1896 - Whitcomb L. Judson from Chicago, Illinois patented the hookless shoe fastener.
1900 - The W.E. Roach Company became the first automobile company to advertise in a national magazine. Their advertising slogan was, Automobiles that give satisfaction! in the "Saturday Evening Post".
1917 - The United States purchase of the Danish West Indies for $25 million, agreed to the previous August, took effect. They called them the Virgin Islands.
1918 - For the first time, Daylight Saving Time went into effect throughout the United States. People sprung ahead an hour, allowing for longer early evenings. The time change gave enough light for many activities in farming areas. Planting could best be done with an extra hour of sun. In the fall, clocks went back an hour to Standard Time.
1923 - The first dance marathon was held in New York City. Dancer Alma Cummings established a world's record by remaining on her feet for 27 hours.
1931 - The great Knute Rockne died in a plane crash.
1937 - Phil Harris recorded "Thats What I Like About the South" on a 78 r.p.m. disk. Harris moved to television stardom and continued as a vocalist during the 1950s with hits like "The Thing".
1939 - British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain undertook to defend Poland in an Anglo-French alliance if attacked.
1943 - The show, "Away We Go", was renamed. After opening at the St. James Theatre in New York City, starring Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts and Howard DeSilva, it became an instant hit. Until 1948, the show ran for 2,248 performances. The musical, has grossed millions of dollars on stage and as a movie was initially produced for $75,000. It is still legendary, especially after it was retitled "Oklahoma!".
1945 - The play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, opened on Broadway on this date.
1949 - Newfoundland joined the Canadian Federation as the 10th province.
1950 - Editor of Scientific American, Gerard Piel, charged that 30,000 copies of the magazine were burned on demand by the Atomic Energy Commission because an article by Cornell physicist Hans Bethe contained technical data on the H-bomb.
1950 - The film, Cheaper by the Dozen, based on the novel by Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Carey, premiered in New York.
1953 - "Cavalcade of America" was heard for the last time on radio. The longest-running show of its kind, "Cavalcade of America" presented dramatized events of American history for 18 years.
1954 - The Soviet Union offered to join NATO.
1959 - The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum.
1962 - Soldier Boy, recorded by the female group The Shirelles, entered Billboard's pop record charts on this date, and later was Number 1 for 3 weeks. It remained on the charts for a total of 13 weeks.
1964 - In Brazil, a period of economic crisis, exacerbated by allegations of official corruption, led to a military revolt against the government of President Joao Goulart.
1968 - Tony Jacklin became the first Britan to win a modern United States golf tournament. He won the Greater Jacksonville Open.
1968 - United States President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not stand for re-election.
1969 - Delacorte Press published Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five.
1969 - George and Patti Harrison were fined $1,500 for posession of marijuana. Harrison maintained that it was a frame-up by police.
1970 - A bankruptcy referee granted the Seattle Pilots' owner permission to sell the major-league baseball franchise to investors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers when the Milwaukee Braves decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia. Seattle then got another American League franchise, the Mariners, producing a league champion in 1995.
1970 - Lesotho's prime minister, Leabua Jonathan, announced that King Moshoeshoe II was leaving the country indefinitely and Queen Mamohato would act as regent.
1971 - United States Lieutenant William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment (later reduced to 20 years) for the killings of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in March 1968.
1972 - Swimmer, Mark Spitz, was awarded the Amateur Athletic Unions Sullivan Award as 1971's outstanding amateur athlete. Spitz went on to Olympic legend a few months later, winning seven gold medals.
1973 - Ken Norton beat Muhammad Ali in a 12-round split decision, during which Ali had his jaw broken.
1973 - Stevie Wonder's recording of You Are the Sunshine of My Life entered the pop charts. It was on the charts for 13 weeks and was Number 1 for one week.
1979 - The military relationship between Britain and Malta ended after 181 years with the departure of the destroyer HMS London from Valetta Harbour.
1983 - The Colombian city of Popayan was devastated by an earthquake which killed at least 500 people and left more than 3,000 homeless.
1985 - A celebritiy reunion up Beverly Hills, California, as ABC-TV celebrated "The Love Boat"'s 200th episode. The network also honored the show's 1,000th guest star: Lana Turner, who was joined by Mary Martin, the 700th guest star on the show. Ginger Rogers was the 300th, and Robert Guillaume #500. "The Love Boat"'s crew included: Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), Dr. Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), Yeoman-Purser Burl Gopher Smith (Fred Grandy, who went on to become a United States Congressman), Bartender Isaac Washington (Ted Lange) and Photographer Ashley Covington Evans (Ted McGinley). The theme song was sung by Jack Jones and Ernie Anderson voiced the millions of network promos before each show.
1985 - Nashville, Tennessee's Tootsies Orchid Lounge, a favorite of country music stars, closed.
1986 - A Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed into a mountainside in central Mexico en route from Mexico City to Los Angeles. All 166 people on board were killed.
1987 - HBO (Home Box Office) earned its first Oscar as "Down and Out in America" tied for Best Documentary feature. The cable-TV film played in a Los Angeles movie theatre for one week to qualify for the Academy Award.
1990 - A rally against a new and unpopular poll tax turned into a violent riot in the heart of London.
1991 - The Warsaw Pact, which held Eastern Europe under tight Kremlin control for 36 years, formally ceased its existence as a military force when Soviet commanders surrendered their powers.
1991 - Former child actor and radio personality Danny Bonaduce, who co-starred in television's The Partridge Family, was arrested for the beating and robbery of Darius Lee Barney, a transvestite prostitute, in Phoenix, Arizona. Police said that Bonaduce had paid Barney $20 for a sex act, and later, was enraged to violence when he discovered that Barney was a man. Police found Bonaduce hiding in his bedroom closet after the assault, covered with dirt and blood. He maintained his innocence in the beating of Barney, claiming he was in the closet when police arrived because, having wakened in the middle of the night, did not find his wife in bed with him. Out of fear, he claimed, he hid in the closet. No one bought into his flimsy alibi, and Bonaduce later plea-bargained out of charges of endangerment and assault.
1992 - Israel and Spain celebrated the 500th anniversary of Roman Catholic monarchs banishing Jews from Spain with a visit to King Juan Carlos by President Chaim Herzog.
1992 - The Security Council imposed an air and arms embargo on Libya to force it to hand over suspected airline bombers.
1993 - The Security Council authorized military intervention for the first time in Yugoslavia, approving the use of force to shoot down planes violating a no-fly ban over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1993 - Brandon Lee, the son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, was killed during filming of The Crow in Wilmington, North Carolina. A gun that was supposed to hold a blank instead fired part of a dummy bullet. Lee was 28 years old. His famous father died while filming The Game of Death in Hong Kong when he was 32.
1994 - President F.W. de Klerk announced a state of emergency to halt spiraling violence in South Africa's Zulu heartland.
1994 - Israel and the PLO signed an agreement to put international observers in the West Bank town of Hebron, the first time Israel had agreed to an international presence in the occupied territories since it captured them in 1967.
1995 - All 60 people aboard a Romanian Tarom airlines Airbus were killed when it crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff for Brussels.
1995 - The Paris Appeals Court ruled that maverick French soccer boss-turned-politician Bernard Tapie was bankrupt, clearing a way for him to be stripped of his French and European parliament seats.
1995 - Concerned about embezzlement from her fan club and boutique accounts, Tejana singer Selena confronted Yolanda Saldivar, her recently-fired manager and first fan club founder, while they stayed in a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the heated argument that ensued, Selena was shot fatally in the back by Saldivar. The bullet struck her in her right shoulder. With sapping strength, Selena ran in a panic to the motel lobby to get help. She collapsed in a pool of blood on the floor as the clerk called 911. An ambulance took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead about an hour later.
1999 - The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, opened in United States theaters. It was a runaway hit, but few critics fully understood the plot.
