1870
The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.
1773
The ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, was born in Charles City County, Virginia.
1825
The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
1861
Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Alabama.
1942
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II. Daylight-saving “War Time” went into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.
1943
The World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.
1950
In a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.
1960
Adolph Coors Co. chairman Adolph Coors III, 44, was shot to death in suburban Denver during a botched kidnapping attempt. (The man who killed him, Joseph Corbett, Jr., served 19 years in prison.)
1964
The Beatles made their first live American television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” broadcast from New York by CBS.
1971
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in California’s San Fernando Valley claimed 65 lives. The crew of Apollo 14 returned to Earth after man’s third landing on the moon.
1984
Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov, 69, died 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev; he was followed by Konstantin U. Chernenko.
1995
Former Sen. J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., died in Washington at age 89.
2002
Britain’s Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, died in London at age 71.
2005
Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina was forced out by board members, ending her nearly six-year reign. A new postage stamp honoring President Ronald Reagan was issued in ceremonies across the country.
2010
Appealing for bipartisanship, President Barack Obama sat down with Democrats and Republicans to spur cooperation on job creation, deficit reduction and health care overhaul. First lady Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move!” campaign against childhood obesity. Iran began enriching uranium to a higher level over the vociferous objections of the U.S. and its allies. Fred Morrison, credited with inventing the Frisbee, died in Monroe, Utah, at age 90.
2014
Despite a wave of online protests, Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark killed a healthy male giraffe named “Marius” because of rules imposed by a European zoo association to deter inbreeding. Host country Russia won its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics, winning the team figure skating event; Matthias Mayer of Austria won the men’s downhill. Missouri All-American Michael Sam came out to the nation as an openly gay player in published interviews with ESPN, The New York Times and Outsports. Danish movie director Gabriel Axel (“Babette’s Feast”) died in Copenhagen at age 95.
