1870 – Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first African-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1901 – Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.
1981 – Martial law was imposed in Poland.
2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court halted the presidential recount in Florida, effectively making Republican George W. Bush the winner.
