| | 323 BC - Alexander the Great dies in Babylon. |
| | 1525 - Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy doctrine decreed by the Roman Catholic Church on priests. |
| | 1625 - King Charles I is married to the French princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon |
| | 1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves. |
| | 1777 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army. |
| | 1798 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded. |
| | 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River. |
| | 1871 - In Labrador, a hurricane kills 300 people. |
| | 1881 - The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack. |
| | 1886 - A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia. |
| | 1898 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital. |
| | 1913 - Great Gorge and International Railway trolley passes under garbage chute in Niagara Falls, New York when it breaks, covering the passenger-loaded car in garbage. |
| | 1920 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post. |
| | 1927 - A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down 5th Avenue in New York City. |
| | 1934 - Adolf Hitler and Mussolini meet in Venice, Italy; Mussolini later describes the German dictator as "a silly little monkey". |
| | 1935 - In one of the biggest upsets in championship boxing, the 10 to 1 underdog James J. Braddock defeated Max Baer in Long Island City, New York, and became the heavyweight champion of the world. |
| | 1942 - The United States opens its Office of War Information, a center for production of propaganda. |
| | 1944 - World War II: Germany launches a counter attack on Carentan. |
| | 1944 - World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets. |
| | 1952 - Catalina affair, a Swedish Douglas DC-3 was shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter. |
| | 1953 - Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy |
| | 1955 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine of the USSR, is discovered. |
| | 1966 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them. |
| | 1970 - "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song. |
| | 1971 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [1] |
| | 1977 - Convicted Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before. |
| | 1978 - Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon. |
| | 1981 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II . |
| | 1982 - Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid. |
| | 1983 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first manmade object to leave the solar system. |
| | 1992 - The Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League logged the first (and, to date, only) shutout in league history, defeating the San Antonio Force, 50-0. |
| | 1995 - French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia. |
| | 1996 - The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents. |
| | 1997 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. |
| | 2000 - President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang. |
| | 2005- Michael Jackson acquitted for charges of child molestation. |
| | 2006- Charles James Haughey, the sixth Taoiseach of Ireland, dies. |