On this date
In 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.
In 1882, the famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky erupted into full-scale violence.
In 1947, the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago; all six crew members reached land safely.
In 1959, the United States launched the Explorer 6 satellite, which sent back images of Earth.
In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
In 1974, French stuntman Philippe Petit repeatedly walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center.
In 1998, terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Ten years ago: San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 to break Hank Aaron’s record with one out in the fifth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals, who ended up winning, 8-6.
Five years ago: Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 and sparing the victims a lengthy, possibly traumatic, death-penalty trial.
One year ago: An accident on a 17-story waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan., claimed the life of a 10year-old boy.