- 1633 – Galileo is accused of heresy.
- 1861 – Civil War begins as Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter.
- 1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and founder of the American Red Cross, dies of tuberculosis at 90.
- 1916 – Beverly Cleary is born.
- 1929 – Arches National Park established
- 1945 – FDR dies of a stroke after being elected to his fourth term in office.
- 1963 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is jailed, writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
- 1985 – Senator Jake Garn from Utah goes into space
