1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
1800 – The U.S. Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signed legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.”
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had “gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily.”
1980 – Operation Eagle Claw, the attempt to rescue 52 U.S. embassy staff held captive in Tehran, ends with the death of eight servicemen when a helicopter crashed into a transport aircraft.
1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
