1561 - Birthday of Sir Edwin Sandys (d. 1629) at Worcestershire, England. English statesman and one of the founders of the Virginia Colony (treasurer, the Virginia Company, 1619-20).  He later became a member of the Bermuda Company. Sandys Parish in Bermuda named for him. Encouraged many to go to America. He was also in favor of having the colonies become a self-sufficient republic. http://www.famousamericans.net/siredwinsandys/
http://www.bermuda-online.org/seesandy.htm
    1640 - Hugh Bewitt was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony when he declared himself to be free of original sin.
    1775 - British troops lost the Battle of Great Bridge, and left Virginia soon afterward.  Tensions heightened in Virginia in Apr, 1775 at about the same time as the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.  Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia Colony had, on arrival in Norfolk, ordered the fortification of the bridge across the Elizabeth River, about 9 miles south of Norfolk in the village of Great Bridge. In response to Dunmore's proclamation, Virginia's assembly ordered its troops to march on Norfolk.  They carefully withheld fire until the grenadiers were within 50 yards and then unleashed a torrent of fire on the British column. The British advance dissolved as the Colonials’ musket fire continued; about half of the British force was killed, and many were injured. They spiked their guns and retreated across the bridge. In some 25 minutes, Dunmore's attempt to stop the Patriot buildup near Norfolk had been emphatically turned back.  In the following days, Dunmore and his Tory supporters took refuge on ships of the Royal Navy, and Norfolk was occupied by the victorious Colonials.
    1783 - Slavery was made illegal this day in Massachusetts by a judicial interpretation of the state constitution of 1780, "…in which the text stating that all men were 'born free and equal'…” was construed as legal nullification of slavery. This year also saw the slave trade outlawed in Maryland. The following year, slavery was abolished in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
    1786 - A second great snowstorm in just five days brought another 15 inches of snow to Morristown, NJ, on top of the eight inches which fell on the 7th and 8th, and the 18 inches which fell on the 4th and 5th. The total snowfall for the week was thus 41 inches. New Haven, CT received 17 inches of new snow in the storm. Up to four feet of snow covered the ground in eastern Massachusetts following the storms.
    1788 - George Washington sold his race horse, Magnolia, to Colonel Henry Lee. Washington reportedly got 5,000 acres of Kentucky farmland. Lee was in Washington's command and also was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was known as “Light Horse Harry.” He wanted the horse to race as this was the great sport of the time. Upon the death of President George Washington, Harry was asked by Congress to deliver a tribute to his beloved general, describing him for posterity:
“First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen...second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life.”
After the death of his idol, Harry's fortunes began to decline rapidly.  The support of a family of six, coupled with disastrous land speculation, reduced him to poverty. Then, on January 19, 1807, in the large upstairs room at Stratford where so many Lees had come into the world, Ann gave birth to their fifth son, Robert Edward, named after two of his mother's favorite brothers. As Robert was learning to walk, his father was carried off to debtor's prison in Montross. With characteristic courage, in a 12-by-15 foot prison cell, Harry wrote his “Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States”, still the standard text on that portion of the Revolutionary War. When the book was finished in 1810, the family moved to Alexandria, where a new life on a modest scale was made possible by a legacy from Ann's father. Harry's eldest son, Henry IV, became master of Stratford. "Light Horse Harry's" last years were marred by sorrow and pain. Internal injuries, received when he was beaten by a mob as he defended a friend and freedom of the press in Baltimore, kept him in constant physical pain. He sought relief in the warm climate of the West Indies. When his health continued to decline, Harry attempted to return home, but died on Cumberland Island, Georgia, in the home of the daughter of his former commander, Nathaniel Greene.
http://www.patriotresource.com/people/lee.html
http://www.stratfordhall.org/lighthorse.htm
    1793 - The first daily newspaper in New York City was founded by Noah Webster; “The America Minerva" was published for the first time. How long Webster stayed awake at night to come up with "Minerva" is anyone's guess.
    1835 - Inspired by the spirited leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico. After helping the Texas Army capture the city of Goliad, he made an impassioned call for volunteers, asking: "Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" Three hundred men did volunteer, and the Texas Army began its attack on San Antonio at dawn on December 5. By December 9, the defending forces of the Mexican army were badly beaten, and the commanding general surrendered the city. Milam, however, was not there to witness the results of his leadership as he was killed instantly by a sniper bullet on December 7. If Milam had survived, he might well have been among the doomed defenders of the Alamo that were wiped out by Santa Ana's troops the following March.
    1848 - Birthday of Joe Chandler Harris (d. 1908) at Eatonton, GA.  American author, creator of the “Uncle Remus” stories.
    1849 - San Francisco's first fire engine arrived from the East. It was known as the Martin Van Buren engine because it has been used to water the lawn of the President's estate in New York. It was not intended for fire use, but had been purchased to pump water from mines.
    1861 - Battle of Bird Creek, Indian Territory (High Shoal, Chusto-Talasah), Oklahoma. Indian Union troops hold off Confederate advance, but retreat due to lack of ammunition. Confederates call it a “victory,” and at Chustenahlah, they again pushed back the ill-trained Union Indian troops.
http://www.pathsofthecivilwar.com/Pastfinder/PCWsummary.asp?l
ocationID=OK002
http://home.earthlink.net/~dawise/CreekReg.htm
http://www.civil-war-and-more.com/1861w.html
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/ok003.htm
    1872 - African-American P.B.S. Pinchback was the Acting Lt. Governor and succeeded after the impeachment of Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth.  He took the oath of office, starting the first of 35 days as the Governor of Louisiana.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/p_b_s_pinchback.html
http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_1153.htm
http://www.sec.state.la.us/46.htm
    1886 - Birthday of Clarence Birdseye (d. 1956) at Brooklyn, NY.  The American industrialist who developed a way of deep-freezing foods, he was marketing frozen fish in 1925 when he founded Birdseye Seafood Company.  He renamed that General Seafood and sold it to Goldman Sachs which later renamed it General Food Corporation which formed The Birds Eye Frozen Food Company.
    1888 - Twenty-eight-year-old Herman Hollerith installed his punch calculator machine at the War Department in Washington, D.C. Hollerith had developed his tabulating machine, which read and sorted punched cards, in the hopes that it would be used in the 1890 census. Census officials thought Hollerith's machine seemed promising but needed practical experience, so Hollerith volunteered to use the machine to organize health statistics from city health departments in New York and Baltimore. It was so successful that news of the machine soon spread, and the War Department invited Hollerith to install a tabulating machine there to track statistics. Ultimately, the Census Department did use Hollerith's machine in the 1890 census.
    1898 - Birthday of Emmett Kelly (d. 1979) at Sedan KS. American circus clown and entertainer, Kelly was best known for “Weary Willie”, a clown dressed in tattered clothes, with a beard and large nose.
    1906 - Birthday of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (d 1992) at New York, NY.  She retired from the Navy at eighty years old, developer of the computer, mother of COBOL, and quite an amazing woman, rising to the highest ranks for a woman at that time, 1983. When she retired from the Navy in 1986, she went to work full time for the Digital Computer Company as a “consultant”.  Reportedly, she functioned in much the same capacity she did when she was in the Navy, traveling on lecture tours around the country, speaking at engineering forums, colleges, universities and computer seminars, passing on the message that managers shouldn't be afraid of change. In her opinion, "the most damaging phrase in the language is “We've always done it this way”.  While the question on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” for the top prize was “what insect was the computer bug”, which was the moth.  This word was coined by Admiral Hopper and the Navy has a picture of what she discovered. She also is attributed with the phrase, “Computer debugging”. She is said to also have had quite a sense of humor. She was a constant smoker of filter-less Lucky Strike cigarettes. The USS Hopper (DDG 70) is named after her honor. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-h/g-hoppr.htm
http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/hopper.htm
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hopper.html
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Hopper.Danis.html
http://www.chips.navy.mil/links/grace_hopper/file2.htm
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/destroyers/hopper/hoprcom.html
    1907 – The first Christmas Seals were sold, at the Wilmington, DE Post Office.
    1911 – “10 faw, 10 faw”.  Actor Broderick Crawford, who starred in the early TV cop series “Highway Patrol”, was born in Philadelphia.
    1912 – Former House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill was born in Cambridge, MA.
    1916 - Trumpet player Bob Scobey (d. 1963) birthday, Tucumcari, NM.
http://artisttv.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,490603,00.html?
artist=Bob+Scobey
http://www.stompoff.com/westcoast.html
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/s/S38.HTM
http://www.jazzbymail.com/artists/bsfjb.html
http://64.33.34.112/.WWW/turkmurp.jpg
http://www.sftradjazz.org/75.html http://www.trumpetjazz.com/artists.cgi?name=
Bob+Scobey&x=21&y=9
    1916 – Actor Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, NY.  As an actor and philanthropist, Douglas has received three Academy Award nominations, an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and the Medal of Freedom. As an author, he has written ten novels and memoirs. Currently, he is No. 17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema, and the highest-ranked living person on the list.
    1917 - A severe winter storm struck the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes Region. It produced 25 inches of snow and wind gusts to 78 mph at Buffalo, NY. The storm produced 26 inches of snow at Vevay, IND, with drifts fourteen feet high. By the 16th of the month people could walk across the frozen Ohio River from Vevay into Kentucky.
    1918 - Birthday of violinist Joe Thompson, Mebane, NC
    1919 - Birthday of Roy deCarava (d. 2009) in Harlem, NYC.  He was the first African-American photographer to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
http://www.frif.com/cat97/a-e/conversa.html
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/rec_acq/history/sweet.html
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/D/decarava/decarava.html
http://artcyclopedia.com/artists/decarava_roy.html
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa68.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/museums/photogallery/decarava/decarava1.htm
    1922 - Birthday of Redd Foxx, born John Elroy Sanford (d. 1991) at St. Louis, MO. Redd Foxx plied his comedic trade on vaudeville stages, in nightclubs, on television, in films and on record albums. His talents reached a national audience with the TV sitcom “Sanford and Son.” He died after collapsing during a rehearsal for a new TV sitcom, “The Royal Family”.
http://www.triviatribute.com/reddfoxx.html
http://www.cmgww.com/stars/foxx/biography.html
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-38305
    1923 - Traveling to Chicago for the Major League meetings, Wild Bill Donovan, New Haven Manager, was killed in a train wreck.  New Haven president George Weiss had swapped berths with Donovan and escapes with a minor injury. Phil’s owner William F. Baker was also on the train, but he was unhurt.
    1925 – 73,000 fans saw Red Grange and the Chicago Bears beat the NY Giants in the first NFL game in NYC.
    1926 – 17 year old Benny Goodman’s first recording session, Chicago, playing clarinet with Ben Pollack and His Californians.  Victor Records. He had a 16 bars solo of a song called “He’s the Last Word.” Goodman worked hard to raise his family out of abject poverty in Chicago. Sadly, his father was hit by a car and killed on the same day Goodman recorded the solo. His father never came to one of Goodman's shows because he didn't own a suit.
    1927 - Birthday of sax player Bennie Green (d. 1977), Leeds, England.
http://search.centerstage.net/music/whoswho/BennieGreen.html
    1927 - Red McKenzie-Eddie Condon stage first Chicago-style session, Chicago, Okeh records.
    1931 - Baseball owners, fearful of the effects of the Depression, voted to cut rosters from to 23. Both leagues stopped awarding MVP trophies. The National League continued to prohibit uniform numbers. The NL loaned the Phillies $35,000 and loaned Judge Emil Fuchs, owner of the Boston Braves, $20,000 secured by his stock.
    1932 - Birthday of trumpet player Donald Byrd (d. 2013), Detroit, MI.
http://members.tripod.com/~hardbop/byrd.html
http://www.thejazzfiles.com/JazzByrd.htm
http://www.duke.edu/~vks2/biography.html
    1932 - Birthday of song writer/singer Jesse Hill, New Orleans, LA, Died Sept. 16, 1966.
http://www.offbeat.com/obfebruary2002/feature.html
    1934 - Birthday of harmonica player Junior Wells, West Memphis, AR. Died Jan. 15, 1998.
http://www.island.net/~blues/junior.html
http://www.juniorwells.com/jwbio.htm
http://www.imdb.com/Name?Wells,+Junior
    1934 – Known as The Sneakers game, the NY Giants defeated the Chicago Bears, 30-13 to win the NFL Championship.  The defending champion Bears entered the game undefeated at 13–0, with an 18-game winning streak. A freezing rain the night before the game froze the Polo Grounds field. After Ray Flaherty, a Giants end, made a remark to Giants' head coach Steve Owen suggesting that sneakers would provide better footing on the frozen playing surface, Owen sent Abe Cohen to Manhattan College to get some sneakers. There, Brother Jasper, the athletic director emptied the lockers of the school's basketball team. Cohen arrived in the third quarter with nine pairs of basketball sneakers from the college.  The Bears led 10–3 at the half when the Giants switched to the sneakers. A Chicago field goal was the only score in the third quarter, extending the lead to ten points. Early in the fourth, Giants QB Ed Danowski threw a touchdown pass to close the score to 13–10. On the next New York drive, RB Ken Strong scored on a 42-yard touchdown run. Later an 11-yard run by Strong was turned into another touchdown for the Giants, and they scored for a final time on Danowski's 9-yard run, a fourth unanswered touchdown. New York outscored the Bears 27–0 in the second half to win.
    1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club, in NYC, awarded its trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, for the first time. The winner was halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
    1938 – Birthday of David Houston (d. 1993), Bossier City, LA.  He was a Grammy Award-winning singer: “Almost Persuaded” [1966]; “Mountain of Love”, “Livin' in a House Full of Love”, “With One Exception”, “You Mean the World to Me”, “Have a Little Faith”, “Already It's Heaven”, “Baby Baby [I Know You're a Lady]”, “So Many Ways”; actor: “Carnival Rock”, “Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers”.
    1938 – Birthday of David “Deacon” Jones (d. 2013), Eatonville, FL.  He spent most of his 14-year career as a defensive end with the Fearsome Foursome of the LA Rams.  He coined the term ‘sack' of which he was premier at the time; NFL defensive player of the year [1967, 1968]; NFL Hall of Fame, 1980.
    1940 - The Chicago Bears won the NFL championship by defeating the Washington Redskins, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in the league's title game.
    1941 - The first American bombing mission took place two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when B-17 airplanes of the 19th Bombardment Group attacked Japanese ships off the east coast of Vigan, Luzon, Philippines.
    1941 – The first fighter plane from the United States to destroy a Japanese airplane in World War II was a Grumman F-50 Wildcat fighter of the Marines, which downed a twin-engine bomber off Wake Island.
    1941 - Although having a 3-C draft deferment due to being the sole support of his family, Bob Feller, last year's AL’s leading pitcher with 27 victories for the Indians, becomes the first American athlete to enlist after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The 23-year old Navy recruit has already won 107 major league games.  Feller spent a full four years in the Navy and saw combat as Gun Captain aboard USS Alabama in the Pacific.  Historians conservatively estimate that the military service cost him at least 100 wins, yet he still complied a 266-162, 3.25 ERA record.
http://www.bobfellermuseum.org/
    1942 – Birthday of Dick Butkus, Chicago.  College and Pro Football Hall of Famer who spent his entire career as the Chicago Bears middle linebacker.  He was two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 8-time Pro-Bowl selection, and a member of the NFL 75th Anniversary Team.  NFL.com rates him #10 on the all-time list.
    1943 – Birthday of Jim Merritt, Altadena, CA.  Major League pitcher: Minnesota Twins [World Series: 1965], Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1970/all-star: 1970], Texas Rangers) player of the Year [1969, 1970]; actor: “Rich Man, Poor Man”, “Half Nelson”.
    1942 - VANDEGRIFT, ALEXANDER ARCHER, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Major General, U.S. Marine Corps, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Solomon Islands, 7 August to 9 December 1942. Entered service at: Virginia. Born: 13 March 1887, Charlottesville, Va. Citation: For outstanding and heroic accomplishment above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division in operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands during the period 7 August to 9 December 1942. With the adverse factors of weather, terrain, and disease making his task a difficult and hazardous undertaking, and with his command eventually including sea, land, and air forces of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, Maj. Gen. Vandegrift achieved marked success in commanding the initial landings of the U.S. forces in the Solomon Islands and in their subsequent occupation. His tenacity, courage, and resourcefulness prevailed against a strong, determined, and experienced enemy, and the gallant fighting spirit of the men under his inspiring leadership enabled them to withstand aerial, land, and sea bombardment, to surmount all obstacles, and leave a disorganized and ravaged enemy. This dangerous but vital mission, accomplished at the constant risk of his life, resulted in securing a valuable base for further operations of our forces against the enemy, and its successful completion reflects great credit upon Maj. Gen. Vandegrift, his command, and the U.S. Naval Service.
    1943 - Birthday of trumpet player Jimmy Owens, New York City.
http://www.trumpetjazz.com/artists.cgi?name=Jimmy+Owens&x=15&y=5
    1946 - Top Hits 
“Ole Buttermilk Sky” - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The Campus Kids) 
“Rumors are Flying” - The Frankie Carle Orchestra (vocal: Marjorie Hughes) 
“The Old Lamplighter” - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams) 
“Divorce Me C.O.D.” - Merle Travis
    1946 – The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials began with the "Doctors’ Trials", prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia.
    1949 – The All-American Football Conference folded.  Of those teams, the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Colts were merged into the NFL.
    1950 – Harry Gold was sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony was later instrumental in the prosecution of the Rosenbergs.
    1953 - Frank Sinatra recorded "Young At Heart". The song was turned down by Nat ‘King' Cole and other artists, believe it or not. It became a top hit in the U.S. in March of 1954.
    1953 – General Electric announced that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.
    1954 - Top Hits 
“Mr. Sandman” - The Chordettes 
“Count Your Blessings” - Eddie Fisher 
“Dim Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)” - Bill Haley & His Comets 
“More and More” - Webb Pierce
    1956 - The Million Dollar Session was held at Sun Records in Memphis, TN. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered for an impromptu jam session. Six songs by the artists were recorded at this session. None of the songs was released for nearly three decades.
    1957 – Singer Donny Osmond was born in Ogden, UT.
    1958 - In Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., establishes the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceives to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society. Welch named the society in honor of John Birch, considered by many to be the first American casualty in the struggle against communism. In 1945, Birch, a Baptist missionary and U.S. Army intelligence specialist, was killed by Chinese communists in the northern province of Anhwei. The John Birch Society, initially founded with only 11 members had, by the early 1960s, grown to a membership of nearly 100,000 Americans and received annual private contributions of several million dollars. In the early days of formation, Ronald Reagan came to several meetings in the Pacific Palisades (he was never listed as a member).  As a teenager, I parked the cars for one of my neighbors who held the meetings. The John Birch Society remains active today, and its members seek "to expose a semi-secret international cabal whose members sit in the highest places of influence and power worldwide."
    1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation of St. Paul, MN unveiled a new computer, known as Univac 1107. The electronic wizard employed what was known as thin-film memory.
    1961 - The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" tops the Cashbox Magazine Best Sellers Chart for the first of a four week run.
    1961 – Nazi SS Col. Adolph Eichmann was found guilty of war crimes in Israel.  After Germany's defeat in 1945, Eichmann fled to Austria. He lived there until 1950, when he moved to Argentina using false papers. Information collected by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, confirmed Eichmann's location in 1960. A team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents captured Eichmann and brought him to Israel to stand trial on 15 criminal charges, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people. Found guilty on many of these charges, he was sentenced to death by hanging and was executed on 1 June 1962.
    1962 - Top Hits 
“Big Girls Don't Cry” - The 4 Seasons 
“Return to Sender” - Elvis Presley 
“Bobby's Girl” - Marcie Blane 
“Don't Let Me Cross Over” - Carl Butler & Pearl (Dee Jones)
    1962 - Arizona's Petrified Forest National Monument was established as a national park.
http://www.orerockon.com/petrified_forest.htm
http://www.nps.gov/pefo/
http://www.petrifiedforest.org/
    1963 - The first Supremes album, "Meet The Supremes", is released by Motown Records. The LP contained their first US Top 40 hit, "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes".    
    1965 - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premieres
http://www.ew.com/ew/fab400/tv100/60s_p4.html
http://www.phillyburbs.com/holidays/christmas/tv/cbc.shtml
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0059026
    1965 – In one of the most famous trades in Major League history, the Cincinnati Reds traded Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldscun and OF Dick Simpson. The Reds' GM Bill DeWitt defended the trade by labeling Robinson "an old 30," a concept that Robinson quickly proved wrong. He responded by winning the AL Triple Crown, the AL MVP and World Series MVP, as the O’s swept the Dodgers of Koufax and Drysdale.  He spent six years with the Orioles, hitting over .300 four times and continuing to hit home runs. The Orioles, during those six years, finished in first place four times and won the World Series twice. On Mother's Day 1966, Robinson became the only player who ever would hit a ball out of Memorial Stadium.  He is the only player to win the MVP in both leagues.  When he retired, his 586 career HRs ranked him fourth all-time behind Ruth, Aaron, and Mays.  Washed up, indeed!
    1965 - While giving a speech in Columbia, MO, Branch Rickey collapsed and died a few days short of his 84th birthday.
    1965 - An article in the New York Times asserts that the U.S. bombing campaign has neither destabilized North Vietnam's economy nor appreciably reduced the flow of its forces into South Vietnam. These observations were strikingly similar to an earlier Defense Intelligence Agency analysis, which concluded that "the idea that destroying, or threatening to destroy, North Vietnam's industry would pressure Hanoi into calling it quits seems, in retrospect, a colossal misjudgment." President Johnson called for more ground troops to be deployed to South Vietnam. 
    1970 - Top Hits 
“I Think I Love You” - The Partridge Family 
“The Tears of a Clown” - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 
“Gypsy Woman” - Brian Hyland 
“Endlessly” - Sonny James
    1972 - The Moody Blues hit number one on the US album charts for the first time with "Seventh Sojourn". It will be their last album of new material for more than five years as the group's members split to record and to tour as solo artists.
    1972 - Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" is released. It would become his fourth US Top Ten hit and first number one single.
    1975 - President Gerald Ford signs $2.3 B loan-authorization for New York City. He had originally opposed the aid to the city, but due to the political pressure, agreed for a federal loan to some $2,300,000,000 annually, to help the city avoid bankruptcy. The fiscal crisis had begun when securities markets declined to buy New York City notes.
    1978 - Top Hits 
“Le Freak” - Chic 
“I Just Wanna Stop” - Gino Vanelli 
“I Love the Nightlife” (“Disco 'Round”) - Alicia Bridges 
“On My Knees” - Charlie Rich with Janie Fricke
    1978 - John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd's version of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" is released under the name, "The Blues Brothers."
    1978 - "Le Freak" by Chic topped the charts and stayed there for 6 weeks. 
    1979 - The eradication of the smallpox virus was certified, making smallpox the first and, to date, only human disease driven to extinction.
    1980 - 61ºF in Boston at 1 AM
    1984 - Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears got another first as he ran six plays as quarterback. He was intercepted twice, but ran the ball himself on four carries. It didn't help. The Green Bay Packers won, 20-14. Payton said after the game, “It was okay, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living.”
http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/payton/
http://www.payton34.com/
    1984 - Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson rushes for 215 yards in a 27-16 victory over Houston to top O.J. Simpson's single-season mark of 2,003 yards rushing. Dickerson finishes the year with 2,105 yards.
    1984 - Michael Jackson announces that at the end of the current Jackson's tour, he will launch a solo career and no longer perform with his brothers.
    1986 - Top Hits 
“The Next Time I Fall” - Peter Cetera with Amy Grant 
“Hip to Be Square” - Huey Lewis & The News 
“The Way It Is” - Bruce Hornsby & The Range 
“It Ain't Cool to Be Crazy About You” - George Strait
    1987 - The fifth storm in nine days kept the northwestern U.S. wet and windy. Winds along the coast of Washington gusted to 75 mph at Oceans Shores and at Hoquiam, and the northern and central coastal mountains of Oregon were drenched with three inches of rain in ten hours, flooding some rivers. Snowfall totals in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State ranged up to 36 inches in the Methow Valley. High winds in Oregon blew a tree onto a moving automobile killing three persons and injuring two others at Mill City
    1987 - Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the first goalie in NHL history to shoot the puck into the opposition team's net in a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.
    1988 - A winter storm blanketed the Southern and Central Appalachians with up to ten inches of snow. Arctic air invaded the north central U.S. bringing subzero cold to Minnesota and North Dakota.
    1989 - "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel topped the charts and stayed there for 4 weeks.
    1995 - The Beatles' "Anthology 1" was #1 in the U.S. The double CD contained 60 Beatles songs and was their sixteenth number-one album. It also set a record for the longest time span for a run of number-one albums: 31 years and 10 months between "Meet the Beatles" and "Anthology 1.”
    2000 – In the continuing saga of who won the 2000 Presidential election, the Supreme Court halted the Florida vote recount.  Eventually, Republican George W. Bush was declared the winner.
    2002 - Pat Boone returned to Billboard's Hot 100 after a 40 year absence. His new song, "Under God", was written in response to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco by an agnostic who claimed his daughter's constitutional rights were violated by having to say the words "under God" when her school recites the Pledge of Allegiance. The record briefly rose to number 25, ahead of songs by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Jay-Z. Boone's last Top 40 hit was "Speedy Gonzalez", which made it to number 6 in 1962.
    2002 - United Airlines filed the then-biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years.
    2014 - The NASA Mars rover Curiosity has returned images from the red planet's Gale Crater showing evidence of sediment deposits, suggesting that lakes and rivers potentially existed across the planet millions of years ago.
    2014 - The Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on CIA interrogation methods after 9/11.  The report found that the CIA hid many of its actions from Congress and former President George W. Bush and claims that little useful intelligence resulted.