On this date
In 1935,
humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow in the Alaska Territory.
In 1945,
in a pre-recorded radio address, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced that his country had accepted terms of surrender for ending World War II.
In 1947,
India became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
In 1965,
the Beatles played to a crowd of more than 55,000 at New York’s Shea Stadium.
In 1969,
the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.
In 1995,
the Justice Department agreed to pay $3.1 million to white separatist Randy Weaver and his family to settle their claims over the killing of Weaver’s wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
In 1998,
29 people were killed by a car bomb that tore apart the center of Omagh, Northern Ireland; a splinter group calling itself the Real IRA claimed responsibility.
Ten years ago:
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., visiting Myanmar, was able to secure the release of John Yettaw, an American imprisoned for swimming to the home of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Five years ago:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted by a grand jury for allegedly abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption. (A coercion charge was tossed on appeal before Texas’ highest criminal court voided the abuse of power charge in February 2016.)
One year ago:
President Donald Trump revoked the security clearance of ex-CIA Director John Brennan in an unprecedented act of retribution against a vocal critic; Trump later told The Wall Street Journal that Brennan was among those he held responsible for the Russia investigation.