0303 - Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians
1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, the Bible (estimated date)
1574 - France begins 5th Holy War against Huguenots
1660 - Charles XI becomes King of Sweden
1668 - Fire in Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, emperor Leopold I rescued
1689 - Dutch prince William III proclaimed King of England
1778 - Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge
1792 - Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving stations for distressed mariners)
1813 - 1st US raw cotton-to-cloth mill founded in Waltham MA
1820 - Cato Street conspiracy uncovered
1822 - Boston is incorporated as a city
1836 - Alamo besieged by Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
1846 - Polish revolutionaries march on Cracow, but are defeated
1847 - Battle of Buena Vista, México - Zachary Taylor defeats Mexicans
1852 - H.M.S. Birkenhead sinks off South Africa, killing 420 troops
1854 - Great Britain & Orange Free State sign Convention of Bloemfontein
1861 - By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US; Dutch Premier Floris A van Hall resigns; President-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC to take office
1869 - Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
1870 - Mississippi is re-admitted to US
1874 - Major Walter Winfield patents game called "sphairistike" (lawn tennis)
1883 - Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
1886 - Aluminum manufacturing process developed; "London Times" publishes world's 1st classified ad
1887 - Congress grants Seal Rocks to San Francisco; French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die
1895 - William Heard, AME minister & educator, named minister to Liberia
1896 - Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield
1898 - In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing government of anti-Semitism & wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus
1900 - Steamer Rio de Janeiro sinks in San Francisco Bay; Battle at Hart's Hill, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
1903 - Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA
1904 - Control of Panamá Canal Zone acquired by US for $10 million
1905 - Rotary Club International established by 4 men in Chicago
1909 - Russian tsar Nicolas II dissolves Finnish Diet
1915 - Germany sinks US ships Carib & Evelyn, torpedoes Norwegian ship Regin; Nevada enforces convenient divorce law
1916 - Congress authorizes McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin; French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun
1917 - February revolution begins in Russia
1919 - Benito Mussolini founds the Facist party of Italy
1921 - 1st US transcontinental air mail flight arrives in New York NY from San Francisco CA
1923 - Great Britain lowers import duty on German products from 26% to 5%
1927 - President Coolidge creates Federal Radio Commission (FCC predecessor)
1934 - Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium
1936 - 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake NY
1940 - Russian troops conquer Lasi Island
1943 - General-Major Bradley arrives in Dakar & Marrakesh
1945 - US Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima; 2nd Dutch government of Gerbrandy forms in London; Canadian troops occupy Kalkar; Operation Grenade General Simpson's 9th Army crosses Ruhr
1947 - General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews
1954 - Syrian army drives out President Adib el-Shishakli
1955 - Edgar Faure forms French government
1956 - 20th Congress of CPSU closes in Moscow; Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
1958 - 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels
1958 - Arturo Frondizi elected President of Argentina
1966 - Aldo Moro forms Italian government; Military coup in Syria ends Bitar government
1966 - Premier Obote grabs power in Uganda
1967 - 25th amendment (Presidential succession) declared ratified
1967 - US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War
1969 - Nayif Hawatimah forms Democratic People's Front for Liberation of Palestine
1970 - Guyana becomes a republic (National Day)
1971 - Lieutenant Calley confesses & implicates Captain Medina in the My Lai investigation
1979 - Frank Peterson, Jr., named 1st Black General in Marine Corps
1980 - Eric Heiden wins all 5 speed skating golds at Lake Placid Olympics; Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-million-gallon spill; 13th Winter Olympics games close at Lake Placid, NY
1981 - Spanish coup under Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina fails
1985 - US Senate confirms Edwin Meese III as Attorney General
1987 - Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604
1988 - 15th Winter Olympics games opens in Calgary, Alberta
1991 - US insists Iraq publicly announce it is leaving Kuwait by 12 PM EST; Military coup in Thailand, Premier Choonhaven arrested
1992 - 16th Winter Olympics games close in Albertville, France
1995 - Antoine Nduwayo appointed Premier of Burundi
1997 - Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building killing 1; NBC TV shows "Schindler's List", completely uncensored, 65 million watch; Scientists in Scotland announced they succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly"
1998 - Supreme Court lets Megan's Law stand; Tornadoes in Florida kill at least 31

Birthdays
1417 - Paul II (Pietro Barbo), Pope (1464-71)
1614 - Jacob Colijn(s) Dutch coat of arms painter
1633 - Samuel Pepys, English navy expert/composer (Diary, Memoirs)
1776 - John Walter II, chief proprietor (The London Times, 1812-47)
1818 - Major General Jeremy F. Gilmer, General/Chief Engineer Confederate War Department
1824 - Lewis Cass Hunt, Union Brigadier General
1834 - Gustav Hermann Nachtigal, German physician/colonizer/consul in Tunisia
1838 - Gilbert Moxley Sorrel, Confederate Brigadier General
1859 - Theodor Batthyányi, Hungarian statesman/contra revolutionary
1869 - Nadezhda Konstantinova Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary (Social-Democrat)
1874 - Konstantin Päts, Estonian PM (1921-23, 1932-33), dictator (1933-40)
1875 - Jozef E. Stokvis journalist/Dutch MP (SDAP)
1883 - Victor Fleming, director (Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind)
1886 - Ventura García Calderón Peruvian diplomat/author
1908 - Sir William McMahon, PM of Australia (Liberal) (1971-72)
1911 - G. Mennen Williams, Sup Court Justice/(Governor-MI)
1925 - Louis Stokes (Representative-OH)
1928 - Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A)
1942 - Beau Boulter (Representative-TX)
1944 - James Cousins, British MP
1949 - Marc Garneau, PhD/astronaut (STS 13, 77); Maureen Hicks, British MP
1960 - Gloria von Thurm un Taxis Munich, German Federal Republic, Princess

Passings
0155 - Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John, arrested & burned at stake
1447 - Eugene IV (Gabriele Condulmer), Italian Pope (1431-47)
1607 - Herman Herbertsz vicar, dies at about 60
1660 - Charles X Gustaaf, King of Sweden (1654-60), dies at 37
1718 - François Fagel, Dutch field marshal/mayor of Nimegen, dies at 63
1766 - Stanislaw Leszcynski, Duke of Lutherans/king of Poland
1848 - John Quincy Adams, 6th US President (1825-1829), dies of a stroke at 80
1915 - Robert Smalls, Reconstruction congressman, dies at 75 in South Carolina
1922 - Henri Landru executed for having 11 wives, in France
1924 - Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President (1913-21)
1945 - Aubrey Cousins, Canadian sergeant (Victoria Cross), dies in battle
1969 - Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Rahman al-Faisal al-Saud King Saudia, dies at 67
1990 - Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello, Dutch MP (Liberal), dies at 53; James Gavin, Commandant US 82nd Airborn Division (Normandy), dies at 82; Jose Napoleon Duarte, President of Salvador (1984-89), dies at 62
1995 - James Herriot Scot author (All Creatures Great & Small), dies at 78; Peter Guy Wykeham Fighter Pilot-Barnes dies at 79

Reported Missing in Action
1968
Donald, Myron L., USAF (NY); F4D shot down (w/Gutterson), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive and well as of 1998

Gutterson, Laird, USAF (CA); F4D shot down (w/Donald), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive and well as of 1998
**Missions: Vietnam - 35 in C-130 prior to F-4D, WWII - Flight Officer B-25 qualified, Korea - 60 missions F-51, F-86 qualified**

Hubler, George L., USMC (UT); F8E shot down