On this day in 1901, President William McKinley (below) died of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. His Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt (above) succeeded him at age 43.
William McKinley(January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901)
The assassination of McKinley occurred on September 6, 1901.
It was on this day in 1982 Grace Kelly died of severe head injuries.
Photo of the crashed car after dropping more than 100 feet over a retaining wall.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on this day in 1935. The act created unemployment insurance and pension plans for the elderly.
On this day in 1969, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
Lech Walesa
Stephen Glenn Martin is 73 years old today. Born in Waco, Texas.
While he has played banjo since an early age, and included music in his comedy routines from the beginning of his professional career, he has increasingly dedicated his career to music since the 2000s, acting less and spending much of his professional life playing banjo, recording, and touring with various bluegrass acts, including Earl Scruggs.
Christopher Columbus left Palos, Spain with three ships on this day in 1492. The voyage led him to what is now known as the Americas.
On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on France. The next day World War I began when Britain declared war on Germany.
Alger Hiss (above)was a government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy on this day in 1948. His case became one of the defining – and still highly controversial – episodes of the Cold War.
Whittaker Chambers is seated on the left in the above photo.
On this day in 1981, U.S. traffic controllers with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), went on strike. They were fired just as President Ronald Reagan had warned.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded on this day in 1949.
Singer Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto) is 92 today.
Tony Bennett is known for his renditions of show tunes, jazz, and popular songs like "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and "Rags to Riches."
He dropped out of school to work as a copy boy in order to help support his family. He was a painting and music student at New York’s School of Industrial Art.
During the U.S. Civil War on this day in 1862, about 14,000 soldier’s of the Confederate army surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson, TN.
The operator of a crematory in Noble, GA, was arrested on this day in 2002, after dozens of corpses were found stacked in storage sheds and scattered around in the surrounding woods.
Ray Brent Marsh addresses the court during sentencing proceedings in Walker County Court in LaFayette, Ga.
John Demjanjuk (above) went on trial in Jerusalem on this day in 1987. He was accused of being "Ivan the Terrible", a guard at the Treblinka concentration camp. He was convicted, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the ruling.
Former prison camp guard John Demjanjuk.
On this day in 1968, America’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, AL.
Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite (right) went to City Hall and called U.S. Representative Tom Bevill at the local police station for the first 911 call.
On this day in 2005, The NHL announced the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season due to a labor dispute. It was the first time a major sports league in North America lost an entire season to a labor dispute.
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season.
About 600 people died on this day in 1903 when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, IL.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed on this day in 1922. Vladimir Lenin (above) proclaimed the establishment.
The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, MI. on this day in 1936.
On this day in 1948, the musical "Kiss Me Kate" opened at the New Century Theatre in New York City. Cole Porter composed the music for the classic play that ran for 1,077 performances.
Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, and Julie Wilson.
Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates) (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008)
