1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.
1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.
1798 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded.
1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
1881 - The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.
1886 - A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.
1893 - Grover Cleveland undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president's death.
1898 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
1917 - World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.
1927 - Aviator Charles Lindbergh receives a ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York City.
1934 - Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey".
1935 - In one of the biggest upsets in championship boxing, the 10 to 1 underdog James J. Braddock defeats Max Baer in Long Island City, New York, and becomes the heavyweight champion of the world.
1942 - The United States opens its Office of War Information.
1944 - World War II: Germany launches a counter attack on Carentan.
1944 - World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.
1952 - Catalina affair: a Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter.
1953 - Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy
1955 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered.
1956 - Real Madrid wins the inaugural European Champion Clubs' Cup final, defeating Stade de Reims 4-3 at the Parc des Princes, Paris.
1966 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
1967 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1970 - "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song.
1971 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.
1977 - Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
1978 - Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
1981 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
1982 - Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
1983 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
1994 - A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
1995 - French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
1996 - The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.
1997 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
1997 - American fugitive Ira Einhorn is arrested in France for the murder of Holly Maddux after 16 years on the run, though he would not return for another four years.
2000 - President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.
2000 - Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
2002 - The United States of America withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2005 - A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.
