ON THIS DATE
In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America’s cotton industry.
In 1885, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera “The Mikado” premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London.
In 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan.
In 1923, President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return, paying a levy of $17,990 on his $75,000 salary.
In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)
In 1975, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a sendup of the legend of King Arthur, had its world premiere in Los Angeles. Academy Award-winning actress Susan Hayward, 57, died in Los Angeles.
In 1980, a LOT Polish Airlines jet crashed while attempting to land in Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.
In 1990, the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies held a secret ballot that elected Mikhail S. Gorbachev to a new, powerful presidency.
In 1991, a British court overturned the convictions of the“Birmingham Six,” who had spent 16 years in prison for a 1974 Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.
Ten years ago: The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he “was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z.” President George W. Bush, speaking from Mexico, said he was troubled by the Justice Department’s misleading explanations to Congress of why it had fired eight U.S. attorneys, but said the firings were “entirely appropriate.”
Five years ago: President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted a White House state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha. Earlier, the two leaders announced that NATO forces would hand over the lead combat role in Afghanistan to Afghan forces in 2013 as the U.S. and its allies aimed to get out by the end of 2014.
One year ago: The Senate voted 49-40 to confirm John B. King Jr. as the nation’s education secretary; King had been serving as acting secretary since Arne Duncan stepped down in Dec. 2015. Europe and Russia launched the ExoMars probe on a joint mission to explore the atmosphere of Mars and hunt for signs of life on the red planet. An Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed west of Dodge City, Kansas, injuring 28 of the 144 people on board.