Today:
1. 1794: Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin, revolutionizing cotton production in the United States and increasing the demand for slave labor.
2. 1900: The Gold Standard Act was ratified, establishing gold as the only standard for redeeming paper money in the United States.
3. 1923: President Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to file an income tax return, as required by law.
4. 1950: The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” program was launched to publicize and capture dangerous criminals.
5. 1964: A jury in Dallas, Texas, found Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby was later sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned on appeal.
6. 1971: The founding of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was formally completed when the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, and Fujairah agreed to form a union.
7. 1989: The first GPS satellite was placed into orbit by the United States, marking the beginning of the Global Positioning System, which has since become widely used for navigation and mapping.
8. 1995: Astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to fly aboard a Russian spacecraft when he launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to the Russian space station Mir.
9. 2004: The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
10. 2018: Students across the United States participated in the National School Walkout, a protest against gun violence and in support of gun control legislation, one month after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.