- 1635 – Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after religious and policy disagreements.
- 1701 – The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
- 1888 – The Washington Monument opens to the public. Construction was halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds and the Civil War.
- 1936 – The Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) begins to generate electricity and transmit it to Los Angeles.
- 1967 – A day after his capture, Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
- 1969 – In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the “Chicago Eight.”
- 1983 – James Watt, facing U.S. Senate condemnation for a racially insensitive remark, resigned as interior secretary.
- 2006 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test
