1664 – Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.
1832 – Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio.
1868 – Metropolitan Life Insurance Co forms.
1887 – 1st telephone call between NY & Chicago.
1920 – 1st US coast guard air station established (Morehead City, NC)
1935 – Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour goes national on NBC Radio Network.
1941 – Glenn Miller begins work on his 1st movie for 20th Century Fox.
1947 – Congress proposes 2-year limitation on the presidency.
1947 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donates NYC East River site to the UN.
1949 – 21st Academy Awards: “Hamlet”, Laurence Olivier & Jane Wyman win.
1955 – 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service.
1955 – Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opens for 694 performances.
1958 – Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)
1966 – Selective Service announces college deferments based on performance.
1974 – 36th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship: NC State beats Marquette 76-64.
1981 – “Nightline with Ted Koppel” premieres on ABC.
1987 – 1st Soul Train Music Awards: Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross win.
1994 – F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above AFB in NC, 120 die.
1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Two students, ages 11 and 13, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are dead and ten are wounded.
2002 – 74th Academy Awards: “A Beautiful Mind”, Denzel Washington & Halle Berry (first woman of color) win.