2004Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan dies at age 93. Reagan was the 40th president of the United States.
1981The first cases of AIDS are reported
1973Doris A. Davis becomes the first African-American woman to govern a city in a major metropolitan area when she is elected mayor of Compton, California.
1968Sirhan Sirhan shoots Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy after Kennedy’s victory in the pivotal California primary election.
1967The Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan begins.
1956Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounces Josef Stalin to the Soviet Communist Party Congress.
1949Ken Follett, novelist (Eye of the Needle, On The Wings of Eagles).
1947David Hare, British playwright and director (A Map of the World, Slag).
1947Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlines “The Marshall Plan,” a program intended to assist European nations, including former enemies, to rebuild their economies.
1944The first B-29 bombing raid strikes the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand.
1940The German army begins its offensive in Southern France.
1939Margaret Drabble, English novelist (The Millstone, The Realms of Gold).
1932Christy Brown, Irish novelist and poet (My Left Foot).
1926David Wagoner, poet and novelist (The Escape Artist).
1919Richard Scarry, Children’s author and illustrator.
1915Alfred Kazin, critic and editor (A Walker in the City).
1900British troops under Lord Roberts seize Pretoria from the Boers.