1520 - Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean.
1795 - The U.S. pays $800,000 and a frigate as tribute to Algiers and Tunis.
1853 - Olympia is established as the capital of Washington Territory.
1861 - The Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to the CSA.
1871 - The Ku Klux Klan trials begin in a South Carolina Federal District Court.
1895 - America's first auto race starts; 6 cars start out on the 55-mile course; the winner averages 7 MPH.
1908 - 154 men die in a coal mine explosion in Marianna, PA.
1919 - The American-born Lady Astor is elected as the first female member of the British Parliament.
1922 - In NYC, Captain Cyril Turner of the RAF gives the first skywriting exhibition; he spells out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" - 47,000 do.
1929 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd first flies to the South Pole.
1942 - In Boston, MA, nearly 500 die in a fire that destroys the Coconut Grove nightclub.
1943 - FDR, Churchill and Stalin meet at Tehran to map out their strategy.
1958 - Chad, the Congo, and Mauritania become autonomous within the French Community.
1964 - Mariner-4 is launched; it will be the first probe to fly by Mars.
1966 - A coup in Burundi overthrows the monarchy; a republic is declared.
1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes in Antarctica killing 257
1983 - The 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-is launched
1986 - The Reagan administration exceeds the SALT-II arms limitations for the first time.
1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing 159.

Birthdays
1628 - John Bunyan, English cleric/author (Pilgrim's Progress)
1785 - Achille-Charles duc de Broglie, French PM (1835-36)
1810 - William Froude, English engineer, naval architect
1820 - Friedrich Engels, German social philosopher; Marx's collaborator
1936 - Gary Hart (Sen-CO)

Passings
1262 - Shinran, founder of Japan's True Pure Land Buddhist sect
1939 - James A. Naismith, creator of basketball
1971 - Wasfi Tal, Jordan's PM, assassinated
1987 - Choh Hao Li, bio-chemist professor (isolated growth hormones)

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Reynolds, Jon A., USAF (DE); released by DRV February, 1973 – retired as a Brigadier General - alive and well as of 1998

Rutledge, Howard E., USN (CA); F8E shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 – deceased in 1984

1966
Hoeffs, John H., US Army (CA); Killed while swimming when a wave swept him out to sea, body not recovered

1970
Smith, Ronald E., US Army SF (IN); KIA, body not recovered

1972
Earnest, Charles M., USN (AL); A6A shot down (pilot), KIA, body not recovered

Harvey, Jack R., USAF (ME); F4D shot down (w/Jones)

Jones, Bobby M., USAF (GA); F4D shot down (w/Harvey)