1903 Author George Orwell (1984, Animal Farm) is born. He dies in 1950.
1924, Director Sidney Lumet (The Wiz, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Network) was born today. He dies in 2011.
1948, Joe Louis knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott to defend his world heavyweight title. After the fight, Louis announced his retirement.
1950, communist North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War.
1951, the first commercial color telecast took place when CBS transmitted a one-hour Arthur Godfreyspecial to four cities. However, nobody owned color TVs at the time, and CBS itself only had a few.
1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of an unofficial, nondenominational prayer in public schools was unconstitutional.
1970, the FCC made it illegal for radio stations to put telephone calls on the air without the permission of the person on the phone.
1973, former White House Counsel John W. Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee. Dean told them that President Richard Nixon, his aides and staff, and the Justice Department had conspired to cover up Watergate.
1993, David Letterman taped his last Late Night With David Letterman show for NBC.
1996, a truck bomb killed 19 Americans at a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.
1997 Undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau dies at age 87.
2000, live-fire training resumed on the Vieques, Puerto Rico, range in the largest naval exercises since a fatal accident prompted a yearlong occupation by protesters.