- 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
- 1520 – The Straight of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
- 1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
- 1800 – John Adams becomes the first president to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
- 1848 – The first medical school for women, the Boston Female Medical School, opens.
- 1897 – The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public.
- 1938 – Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed “The match of the century” in horse racing.
- 1950 – Puerto Rican nationals Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo tried to force their way into the Blair House in Washington in an attempt to assassinate President Harry Truman.
- 1952 – The U.S. tested the world’s first hydrogen bomb.
- 1973 – Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
