PHOTO CREDITS- WIKIPEDIA/INTERNET ARCHIVE

1988 Soviets forces begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

1975 The merchant ship Mayaguez is recaptured from Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.

1972 Gov. George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland.

1968 U.S. Marines relieve army troops in Nhi Ha, South Vietnam after a fourteen-day battle.

1963 The last Project Mercury space flight, carrying Gordon Cooper, is launched.

1958 Sputnik III is launched by the Soviet Union.

1942 The United States begins rationing gasoline.

1940  The first McDonald's fast food restaurant open

1930 Jasper Johns, Jr., painter, leader of the Pop Art movement.

1930 Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess. 

1928  The first Mickey Mouse film is screened

1926 Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony Shaffer.

1926 Anthony Shaffer, English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer. 

1923 Richard Avedon, photographer.

1918 Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts receive the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They are the first Americans to win France’s highest military medal.

1916 U.S. Marines land in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.

1902 Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago through the 1960s and early 1970’s.