1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
1812 – The government authorized the issue of America’s first war bonds to pay for military equipment for use against the British.
1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing U.S. currency on the gold standard.
1903 – The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the U.S. the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the Senate.
1950 – The FBI’s “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” list appeared for the first time.
1964 – A jury in Dallas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
1973 – Navy pilot John McCain and 107 other American prisoners of war were released by North Vietnam. He spent more than five years in a prison camp after his plane was shot down.
