Archives

1863 – During the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address.

1954 – The first automatic toll machine in the United States goes into service along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, charging motorists 25 cents to pass.

1959 – It’s the end of the road for the Edsel, as Ford Motor Company terminates production of an automobile line that proved to be a marketing disaster.

1964 – Something other than bread pops in and out of the toaster, as Kellogg’s introduces the Pop-Tart in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, apple currant and brown sugar-cinnamon.

1969 – Apollo 12 becomes the second manned space mission to land on the moon. The crew touches down within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed in April 1967. The astronauts bring some Surveyor III instruments back to Earth to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

1975 – “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opens in theaters, starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a 1960s psychiatric hospital, and Louise Fletcher as the head nurse. It becomes only the second movie of all time to clinch five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Nicholson).

1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Written by Perkins, it is considered one of the first rockabilly recordings. The single reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in 1956 and is later famously covered by Elvis Presley.

1966 – Reigning supreme on the singles chart: “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Diana Ross and The Supremes. The track hangs on to the No. 1 position for two weeks and is the Motown sensation’s seventh chart-topper.

1977 – Debby Boone is midway through a 10-week hold on No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Light Up My Life.”

1979 – Chuck Berry walks out of prison a free man after serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion.

1983 – Tina Turner has her first chart single in more than a decade with her cover of Al Green’s 1972 hit, “Let’s Stay Together.” The track, from her “Private Dancer” album, climbs as high as No. 26 on the Hot 100.

1994 – Boyz II Men have the No. 1 single with “I’ll Make Love to You.” 

2003 – California authorities issue an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of child molestation and ask the pop superstar to turn himself in and surrender his passport.

2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, begins its tenth and final week on top of the Billboard singles chart.

1931 – A jury finds Chicago mob boss Al Capone guilty of tax evasion. One of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s, Capone is later sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, ordered to pay $215,000 in back taxes and fined $50,000.

1966 – The TV game show takes on a new shape with the premiere of “The Hollywood Squares.”

1973 – OPEC announces it will cut oil exports to the U.S. and other nations friendly with Israel, a move that eventually leads to the “Energy Crisis.”

1973 – The romantic drama, “The Way We Were,” starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, has its world premiere in New York before opening nationally three days later. The film captures the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for the theme song, “The Way We Were,” sung by Streisand.

1974 – President Gerald Ford goes before Congress to explain his pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon.

1989 – A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocks the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring 3,000 others and causing more than $5 billion in damage. Known as the Loma Prieta earthquake, the natural disaster strikes just as Game 1 of the World Series is starting at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park between local teams The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants.

1964 – “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” by Manfred Mann, kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the cover of a song originally recorded in 1963 by the American band The Exciters, but it was the British group Manfred Mann that made it an international smash.

1964 – The Ronettes release their classic ballad, “Walking in the Rain.” The single later earns producer Phil Spector the first and only Grammy of his career for sound effects (thunder and rain).

1967 – “Hair,” touted as “an American tribal love-rock musical,” opens on Broadway.

1970 – “I’ll Be There,” by the Jackson 5, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. It is the group’s fourth consecutive chart-topper.

1981 – Christopher Cross is king of the Billboard Hot 100 with music from the movies – “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).” The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks and goes on to earn a Best Original Song Oscar.

1991 – Singer and TV host Tennessee Ernie Ford dies of liver failure at the age of 72. Ford was best known for his chart-topping 1955 cover of the Merle Travis song “Sixteen Tons.” 

2008 – Levi Stubbs, lead singer of Motown giants the Four Tops, dies at the age of 72. Stubbs had been in ill health since a 1995 cancer diagnosis; a stroke and other health problems led him to stop touring in 2000. 

1845 – The U.S. Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland, with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. Known as the Naval School until 1850, the curriculum included mathematics and navigation, gunnery and steam, chemistry, English, natural philosophy and French.

1886 – Griswold Lorillard of Tuxedo Park, New York fashions the first tuxedo for men by cutting the tails off a tailcoat.

1973 – Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns from office after pleading no contest to a tax evasion charge.

1985 – U.S. Navy fighter jets intercept an Egyptian airliner carrying the Palestinian terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship days earlier and killed an American passenger.

1985 – Hollywood loses actor-filmmaker Orson Welles (“War of the Worlds,” “Citizen Cane”) to a heart attack at age 70.

1985 – Lung cancer claims the life of 65-year-old actor Yul Brynner (“The King and I,” “The Ten Commandments,” “The Magnificent Seven”), who recorded an impassioned anti-smoking public service announcement shortly before his death.

2004 – Actor Christopher Reeve, beloved for his starring role in four “Superman” movies, dies of heart failure at the age of 52. Left quadriplegic in a 1995 horse-riding accident, Reeve had become an outspoken advocate for spinal cord research until his death, establishing a foundation still in operation today.

1956 – Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender,” from the movie of the same name, debuts on the pop chart, reaching No. 1 a month later. It is an adaptation of the Civil War-era tune “Aura Lee or The Maid with Golden Hair.”

1960 – The novelty song “Mr. Custer,” by Larry Verne, begins a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1970 – “Cracklin’ Rosie” gives Neil Diamond his first ride to the top of the singles chart, where it holds for a week.

1979 – “The Rose,” starring Bette Midler as a self-destructive 1960s rock star, premieres in Los Angeles. The movie, based on the life of rock legend Janis Joplin, goes on to receive four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Midler, in her screen debut).

1981 – The Diana Ross-Lionel Richie duet, “Endless Love,” concludes its nine-week reign over the singles chart.

1987 – “Here I Go Again,” by British rockers Whitesnake, spends a week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1988 – U2 release “Rattle and Hum,” a companion to the movie of the same name. The album contains live performances from the band’s successful 1987-88 “The Joshua Tree” tour, as well as additional songs recorded at the historic Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

1992 – Boyz II Men are in the middle of an epic 13-week domination of the singles chart with their Grammy-winning smash, “End of the Road.”

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas begin the final week of a marathon 14-week hold on the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Gotta Feeling.” The song goes on to capture a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.