1997Tony Blair becomes British Prime Minister, ending 18 years of Conservative Party reign
1989The Iron Curtain begins to crumble as Hungary dismantles its border fence
1982 The British Royal Navy sinks the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano
1970Student anti-war protesters at Ohio’s Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard takes control of campu
1968The U.S. Army attacks Nhi Ha in South Vietnam and begins a fourteen-day battle to wrestle it away from Vietnamese Communists.
1952The jet age begins with the first scheduled flight of the De Havilland Comet 1
1946Prisoners revolt at California’s Alcatraz prison.
1945Russian forces take Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting.
1942Admiral Chester J. Nimitz, convinced that the Japanese will attack Midway Island, visits the island to review its readiness.
1941Hostilities break out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction.
1923Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready take off from New York for the West Coast on what will become the first successful nonstop transcontinental flight.
1921Satyajit Ray, Indian film director (Aparajito, The World of Apu).
1919The first U.S. air passenger service starts.
1903Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, author and activist.