On this date...

Rush Limbaugh Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom

In 1776, Fielding Lewis, Washington’s brother-in-law, writes from Fredericksburg. Virginia is raising new regiments, repairing muskets, building powder mills, and even experimenting with heavy rifles designed to drive British warships from narrow rivers.

In 1776, in New York City today, two generals—one American, one British—arrive almost simultaneously. Major General Charles Lee comes to organize the city’s defense just as British General Henry Clinton lands. Clinton claims he is merely visiting William Tryon, New York’s former royal governor. Lee is doubtful.

In 1783, Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.

In 1787, Shays's Rebellion, an uprising in western Massachusetts against high taxes and stringent economic conditions, was defeated by the Springfield militia. The rebellion helped to influence the meeting of a Constitutional Convention.

In 1787, 1st Anglican bishops of New York and Pennsylvania were consecrated in London,

In 1789, George Washington was elected the first president of the US.

In 1801, John Marshall took office as chief justice of the United States, a position he would hold for a record 34 years.

In 1826, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper was published. One of the earliest distinctive American novels, the book is the second of the five-novel series called the “Leatherstocking Tales.”

In 1846, their leader was assassinated and their homes under attack, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) of Nauvoo, Illinois, began a long westward migration that eventually brought them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

In 1847, the 1st US telegraph company was established in Maryland.

In 1849, the University of Wisconsin began in 1 room with 20 students.

In 1854, Alvan Bovay proposed the name "Republican Party" in Ripon, Wisconsin.

In 1861, In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana convene in Montgomery, Alabama to establish the Confederate States of America.

In 1866, American religious figure Mary Baker Eddy reportedly cured her injuries by opening a bible.

In 1899, the Philippine–American War began with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces.

In 1908, Star #46 was added to the US flag for Oklahoma with the addition to the Union of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907.

In 1922, the Ford Motor Company acquired the failing luxury automaker Lincoln Motor Company for $8 million.

In 1932, the United States hosted its first Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. Only 17 countries attended the games, and the organizers suffered huge financial losses.

In 1937, the animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in theaters nationwide.

In 1938, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, a classic portrayal of small-town American life, made its Broadway debut.

In 1941, the United Service Organizations (USO) was formed.

In 1945, during the final stages of World War II, the Yalta Conference opened with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin meeting to plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany.

In 1946, the SS Argentina, an American passenger liner turned troopship, arrived in New York City with 452 British war brides, one war groom, and 173 children.

In 1952, Jackie Robinson became the 1st African American executive of a major US TV and radio station as Director of Community Activities at radio WNBC-NY and TV station WNBT.

In 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital opened in Memphis, Tennessee; funding for the cancer-fighting facility was led by entertainer Danny Thomas.

In 1972, US Senator Strom Thurmond suggested that John Lennon be deported

In 1974, Patty Hearst, heiress of the William Randolph Hearst newspaper empire, was kidnapped by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst was allegedly brainwashed into participating in various organized crimes.

In 1977, the album "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac was released.

In 1987, US President Reagan's veto of the Clean Water Act was overridden by Congress

In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica, California, found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, ordering Simpson to pay $33.5 million to the victims’ families.

In 1997, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish, three of whom were killed in the Holocaust

In 1999, Plainclothes officers of the New York Police Department’s Street Crime Unit fired 41 shots at unarmed Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, killing him on the steps of his apartment building shortly after midnight.

In 2004,  Facebook launched.

In 2004, the Massachusetts high court declared that gays were entitled to marry.

In 2007, Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts became the first Black NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl.

In 2020, Radio personality Rush Limbaugh was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump during the State Of The Union Address

In 2021, a voting technology company, Smartmatic USA, sued Fox News, three of its hosts, and two former Trump lawyers — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, for allegedly conspiring to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the presidential election. (The case remains ongoing.)