On this day in 1789, the French Revolution began when Parisians stormed the Bastille prison and released seven prisoners inside.
Outlaw “Billy The Kid” (William H. Bonney) was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett (below) on this day in 1881.
Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 – December 5, 1991)
Richard Speck murdered student nurses in Chicago (below) on the night’s of July 13–14, 1966.
Guarded by detectives, Corazon Amurao arrives at the courthouse in Peoria to testify as the state’s chief witness against mass murderer Richard Speck on April 5, 1967.
The American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, and sent back photographs of the planet (below) on this day in 1965.
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967)
singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie was one of the most significant figures in American folk music; his songs, including social justice songs, such as "This Land Is Your Land", have inspired several generations both politically and musically. He wrote hundreds of political, folk, and children’s songs, along with ballads and improvised works.
Guthrie died of complications of Huntington’s disease on October 3, 1967. By the time of his death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them through Dylan, Pete Seeger, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, his ex-wife Marjorie and other new members of the folk revival, and his son Arlo (below).
During World War II in this day in 1943, the Soviets announced that they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had began in September of 1941.
Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and the ill- fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on this day in 1912, four weeks after Amundsen‘s Norwegian expedition. Scott and his companions perished on the return trip to camp.
Captain Robert Scott (June 6, 1868 – March 29, 1912)
On this day in 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, MA, of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life in prison where he was killed in 1973 by a fellow inmate.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling(December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936)
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story. His children’s books are classics of children’s literature, and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift”.
David Richard Berkowitz (Richard David Falco) turned 64 June 1.
On this day in 1969.
Charles Milles Manson (Charles Milles Maddox) will be 83 November 12.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio on this day in 1921.
On this day in 1988, President Reagan signed a measure that provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II.
On this day in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress. The "Nation’s Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson (below).
James Smithson (1765 – June 27, 1829)
Smithson was an English chemist and mineralogist who became the patron of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. despite having never visited the United States.