1819, William Clarkson of New York patents the bicycle.
1904, Actor Peter Lorre (The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca) is born. He dies in 1964.
1909, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley‘s longtime manager, is born. He dies in 1997.
1912, the Oreo cookie was invented by Nabisco.
1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France during World War One.
1927, the Cyclone roller coaster opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.
1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.
1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he was greeted by more than one million of the divided city’s residents. In a speech, he made his famous declaration, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” He meant “I am a Berliner,” but it translated literally as “I am a jelly donut.”
1974, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton divorced for the first time. They later remarried — and redivorced.
1975, Sonny & Cher‘s divorce was finalized after 11 years of marriage.
1977, Elvis Presley made what turned out to be his final public appearance, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. He died 51 days later.
1990, President George Bush, who had campaigned for office on a pledge of “no new taxes,” conceded that tax increases would have to be included in any deficit-reduction package worked out with congressional negotiators.
1993, in retaliation for an Iraqi plot to assassinate former U.S. president George Bush during his April visit to Kuwait, President Bill Clinton ordered U.S. warships to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraqi intelligence headquarters in downtown Baghdad. The attack destroyed the building, and according to Iraqi accounts, killed several civilians.
2000, Federal investigators concluded John F. Kennedy, Jr.‘s plane crashed after he became disoriented and lost control.
2000, rival scientific teams completed the first rough map of the human genetic code after a 10-year race.