This Day in History

General Interest

1991 : Magic Johnson announces he is HIV positive
1885 : Canada's transcontinental railway completed
1940 : Tacoma Bridge collapses
1944 : FDR reelected a record third time
1989 : Two African American firsts in politics

American Revolution

1776 : Post office stays in the Franklin family

Automotive

1957 : East Germany launches the Trabant Sputnik
1965 : Green Monster sets new speed record

Civil War

1861 : Battle of Belmont, Missouri

Cold War

1957 : Gaither Report calls for more U.S. missiles and fallout shelters

Crime

1983 : A family is brutally murdered

Disaster

1940 : Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses

Entertainment

1943 : Joni Mitchell born
1951 : Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra marry

Literary

1913 : French novelist Albert Camus is born

Old West

1916 : Jeannette Rankin becomes first U.S. congresswoman

Presidential

1944 : FDR wins unprecedented fourth term

Vietnam War

1964 : U.S. intelligence asserts numbers of North Vietnamese in South Vietnam growing
1966 : McNamara shouted down at Harvard speech
1972 : Nixon re-elected president

Wall Street

1918 : Rumors close NYSE
1984 : Wall Street's election woes
1997 : Greenspan speaks in Germany

World War I

1914 : First issue of The New Republic published

World War II

1944 : Soviet master spy is hanged by the Japanese

From The History Channel.