1789, the U.S. House Of Representatives held its first full meeting, in New York City.
1924, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for leading the Nazis’ unsuccessful “Beer Hall Putsch,” an early attempt to take over the German government. Hitler wrote his autobiography Mein Kampf in prison, before being released after only nine months due to political pressure.
1960, the first weather satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral.
1970, President Richard Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after January 1st, 1971.
1982, the U.S. transferred control of the Panama Canal Zone to the government of Panama.
1994, Kermit The Frog hosted Larry King Live on CNN.
1996, Fifty-one-year-old umpire John McSherry collapsed on the field in Cincinnati, seven pitches into the Reds’ opening day game, and died at the hospital about an hour later. He’d planned to see doctors the next day about an irregular heartbeat. The Reds-Montreal Expos game was postponed until the next day, against the wishes of controversial Reds owner Marge Schott.
1997, Federal authorities cautioned that thousands of schoolchildren across the nation might have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus by eating frozen strawberries imported from Mexico and processed in the US.
1998, US District Judge Susan Webber Wright dismissed Paula Jones‘s lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, saying her claims of sexual harassment fell “far short” of being worthy of trial.
1999, A New Jersey man was arrested and charged with originating the “Melissa” e-mail virus. David L. Smith later pleaded guilty to various state and federal charges.
1999, The United States branded as an illegal abduction the capture of three U.S. Army soldiers near the Macedonian-Yugoslav border. President Clinton demanded their immediate release.
2000, President Bill Clinton, speaking at a fund-raiser for his wife’s Senate campaign, accused New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of enlisting a “right-wing venom machine” against Hillary Rodham Clinton.
2000, Michelle Kwan won her third World Figure Skating title.
2001, a U.S. Navy surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet collided over the South China Sea, forcing the American plane to land at a military airfield on the Chinese island of Hainan with 24 crewmembers on board. They were released 10 days later.
2001, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in the early morning hours after a 26-hour armed standoff, facing corruption charges linked to his dictatorial 13-year rule. He was eventually turned over for a war crimes trial at The Hague.