1647 - Massachusetts passes the first U.S. compulsory school attendance law.
1648 - The Dutch and French agree to divide St. Maarten and the Leeward Islands.
1778 - Iroquois in NY kill 40 in the Cherry Valley Massacre.
1811 - Cartagena, Colombia declares independence from Spain.
1864 - Union General Sherman's troops destroy Rome, GA.
1865 - Mary Edward Walker, the first U.S. Army female surgeon, is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1889 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
1918 - Armistice Day-WW I ends at 11 AM on the Western Front.
1921 - President Harding dedicates the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
1922 - The largest U.S. flag is displayed (150' X 90'); it is expanded in 1939 (270' X 90').
1924 - In San Francisco, the Palace of the Legion of Honor is dedicated.
1925 - Robert Millikan announces the discovery of cosmic rays.
1931 - Cornerstones laid for the Opera House & Veterans Building.
1933 - The "Great Black Blizzard" - the first great dust storm in the Great Plains.
1935 - The Explorer-2 balloon sets an altitude record of 72,000 feet over SD.
1939 - Kate Smith first sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."
1940 - A blizzard strikes the midwestern U.S., killing over 100.
1942 - Germany completes their occupation of France.
1959 - The first episode of "Rocky and His Friends" airs.
1965 - Rhodesia is proclaimed independent of Britain.
1966 - Gemini-12 is launched on a 4-day flight.
1968 - The Maldives (in the Indian Ocean) become a republic.
1972 - The U.S. Army turns over Long Bihn base to the South Vietnamese army.
1975 - Angola gains independence from Portugal; the Australian PM is removed by the crown (first elected PM removed in 200 years).
1982 - The 5th space shuttle mission-Columbia 5-is launched (the first commercial flight); Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is let out of jail.
1983 - President Reagan becomes the first U.S. President to address Japan's legislature.
1985 - Yonkers is found guilty of segregating schools and housing.
1987 - Judge Anthony M. Kennedy is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Birthdays
1050 - Henry IV, Holy Roman emperor (1036-1106)
1744 - Abigail Smith Adams, second First Lady
1748 - King Charles IV of Spain (1788-1808)
1771 - Ephraim McDowell, surgeon (pioneered abdominal surgery)
1821 - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (Crime & Punishment)
1864 - Alfred Hermann Fried, German pacifist (Nobel 1911)
1869 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (1900-46)/Ethiopia
1885 - George S. Patton, U.S. General "Old Blood & Guts"
1900 - Hugh Scott (Sen-PA)
1901 - Sam Spiegel, producer (On the Waterfront, Bridge over River Kwai)
1904 - Alger Hiss, State Department official and spy
1911 - King Hussein of Jordan.
1915 - William Proxmire (Sen-WI) (Golden Fleece Awards)
1945 - Daniel Ortega Saavedra, President of Nicaragua (1984-1990)

Passings
1831 - Nat Turner, former slave who led a violent insurrection, hanged in VA
1962 - Rene Coty, President of France
1984 - Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.
1987 - L.T. Coggeshall, medical scientist (Secretary of HEW 1956-58)

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Biss, Robert Irvin, USAF (PA); F4C shot down (pilot, w/Monlux), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Butt, Richard L., USAF (VA); F4C shot down (weapons/systems operator, w/Ringsdorf) - remains returned April, 1986

Mearns, Arthur, USAF (NY); F105D shot down - remains returned September, 1977

Monlux, Harold D., USAF (IA); F4C shot down (w/Biss), released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Ringsdorf, Herbert B., USAF (AL); F4C shot down (pilot, w/Butt), released February, 1973 - deceased as of February, 1998

Swindle, Orson G. III, USMC (GA); F8E shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of this year, served as a Federal Trade Commissioner 1997-2005

1967
Martinez-Mercado, Edwin J., US Army (NY); KIA, body not recovered

Shaw, Gary F., US Army (OH); KIA, body not recovered

Staton, Robert M., Jr., US Army (NC); KIA, body not recovered

Stuckey, John S., Jr., US Army (IN); KIA, body not recovered