On this date...

Richard Nixon

In 1773 John Hancock’s ship, Hayley, arrives in Boston from England, captained by James Scott. He brings news that several vessels laden with East India Company tea had come down the English Channel at the same time as his vessel – four of which are headed for Boston.

In 1775, In his General Orders, Washington announces that Congress has increased officers’ pay, intended to reward their service and encourage renewed recruitment. He also calls a meeting to establish uniform standards, knowing that appearance strengthens morale as much as muskets.

In 1775, Henry Knox was made "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery" by the Continental Congress.

In 1777, Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification.

In 1800, The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C.

In 1827, The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York

In 1835, residents of Cincinnati, Ohio, inspired by the Texans' fight for independence, began raising funds to purchase two cannons for the cause. They were shipped down the Mississippi and arrived in Texas in April, just in time for the Battle of San Jacinto.

In 1856, On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.

In 1862, Union General Ambrose Burnside marches north out of Washington, D.C., to begin the Fredericksburg campaign

In 1863, Confederate General James Longstreet places the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, under siege. After two weeks and one failed attack, he abandoned the siege and rejoined General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

In 1871, The National Rifle Association was granted a charter by New York state; the NRA's initial goal was to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis,” and it later became a leading advocate of gun rights.

In 1884, Police arrest boxer John L. Sullivan in the second round of a match for being "cruel"

In 1894, Serial killer H. H. Holmes is arrested in Boston after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the Pinkertons.

In 1931, Charles Lindbergh inaugurates Pan Am service from Cuba to South America in the Sikorsky flying boat "American Clipper."

In 1934, Lyndon B. Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as "Lady Bird."

In 1956, Syracuse fullback Jim Brown scores an NCAA record of 43 points in a game against Colgate University.

In 1962, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., was dedicated.

In 1965, During part of what would become known as the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, a battalion from the 1st Cavalry Division is ambushed by the 8th Battalion of the North Vietnamese 66th Regiment.

In 1968, the Oakland Raiders score two touchdowns in nine seconds to beat the New York Jets—and no one sees it, because they’re watching the movie Heidi instead.

In 1970, Stanford Research Institute scientist Douglas Engelbart receives the first patent for the computer mouse.

In 1973, During the Watergate scandal, U.S. President Richard Nixon held a press conference in which he declared, “I am not a crook.”

In 1980, Charlene Williams and Gerald Gallego, one of the most sadistic serial killing couples in American history, are finally caught after killing and sexually assaulting at least 10 people over a two-year period.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan signs off on a top secret document, National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), which gives the Central Intelligence Agency the power to recruit and support a 500-man force of Nicaraguan rebels to conduct covert actions against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. A budget of $19 million was established for that purpose.

In 1991, The first condom ad on network TV airs on Fox during the teen sitcom "Herman's Head." Growing concern about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases led to the airing of the 15-second spot.

In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as governor of California.

In 2003, ex-soldier John Muhammad is found guilty of one of a series of sniper shootings that terrorized the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area and dominated national headlines in October 2002.

In 2010, A hand-count of votes affirmed the re-election of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the first Senate candidate in over 50 years to win a write-in campaign.

In 2010, The first Guantanamo detainee to face civilian trial, Ahmed Ghailani, was convicted by federal jury in New York on one charge of conspiracy related to 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Ghailani's native Tanzania.

In 2019, First known case of COVID-19 traced to man who visited Wuhan, China.

In 2020, President Donald Trump fired the nation’s top election security official, Christopher Krebs, who had refuted Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and vouched for the integrity of the vote.