| On this date in: |
| 1570 |
Pope Pius V excommunicated England’s Queen Elizabeth I. |
| 1836 |
Inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver. |
| 1870 |
Hiram Revels, a Mississippi Republican, was sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. Senate. |
| 1901 |
United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan. |
| 1913 |
The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect. |
| 1943 |
Beatles guitarist George Harrison was born in Liverpool, England. |
| 1950 |
“Your Show of Shows” debuted on NBC. |
| 1956 |
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev harshly criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow. |
| 1964 |
Cassius Clay (who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali) became the world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. |
| 1983 |
Playwright Tennessee Williams was found dead at age 71. |
| 1986 |
President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election. Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency. |
| 1990 |
Nicaraguans voted in an election that led to victory for opponents of the ruling Sandinistas. |
| 1991 |
An Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 Americans during the Persian Gulf War. |
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| AP Photo/David Longstreath |
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| 1999 |
A jury in Jasper, Texas, sentenced white supremacist John William King to death for the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., an African-American man. |
