1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London.
1850, Levi Strauss made his first blue jeans.
1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened, in Camden, New Jersey. 
1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission was established by Congress.
1939, the Little League organization was formed with three youth teams in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
1941, the New York Giants became the first baseball team to wear protective helmets, in a game against the Pirates.
1944, the D-Day invasion of Europe took place during World War Two, as Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in France.
1946, the NBA was formed from the 11-team Basketball Association of America.
1949, George Orwell’s 1984 was published.
1966, black activist James Meredith was shot and wounded by a white sniper as he walked along a Mississippi highway to encourage black voter registration.
1971, The Ed Sullivan Show, TV’s longest-running variety show, aired its final episode on CBS, which had cancelled it after 23 years.
1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could not impose an automatic death sentence for defendants convicted of murdering a police officer.
1978, the TV newsmagazine show 20/20 debuted on ABC. 
1985, authorities in Brazil exhumed a body later identified as the remains of Dr. Josef Mengele, the notorious “Angel of Death” of the Nazi Holocaust.
1990, a federal judge in Florida declared the album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, by rap group 2 Live Crew, to be obscene. The decision was later overturned on appeal.
2005, actress Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker, The Graduate, The Elephant Man, Agnes Of God,Torch Song Trilogy, Malice, Keeping The Faith; wife of Mel Brooks) dies at age 73.