Today:
1513: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León sights the coast of Florida for the first time while searching for the Fountain of Youth.
1625: Charles I becomes the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland following the death of his father, James I.
1794: The United States Congress passes the Naval Act, establishing the permanent United States Navy and authorizing the construction of six frigates.
1814: U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in central Alabama.
1836: Mexican forces execute over 300 Texan prisoners of war at Goliad, Texas, under orders from General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1871: Scotland defeats England at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, in the first ever international rugby union match.
1912: First Lady Helen Taft and the wife of the Japanese ambassador plant the first two Yoshino cherry trees in Washington, D.C.
1958: Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Premier of the Soviet Union, succeeding Nikolai Bulganin while retaining his position as First Secretary of the Communist Party.
1964: The most powerful earthquake in U.S. history, a magnitude 9.2, strikes the Prince William Sound region of Alaska.
1977: The deadliest accident in aviation history occurs when two Boeing 747s collide on a foggy runway at Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Spain.