1178

Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, crowned King of Burgundy.

1419

First defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague town hall and throw the judge, mayor and several city council members out the windows. They die in the fall or killed by crowd outside.

1540

Lutheran clergyman Robert Barnes was burned as a heretic after being used by Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII to gain European support for their anti papal movement in England.

1619

House of Burgesses Virginia forms, 1st elective American governing body.

1863

American industrialist and automobile manufacturer Henry Ford, who revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods, was born.

1863

Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.

1898

Otto von Bismarck—who, as prime minister of Prussia (1862–73, 1873–90), used ruthlessness and moderation to unify Germany, founding the German Empire (1871) and serving as its first chancellor (1871–90)—died.

1921

Insulin was first isolated as a pancreatic extract by the Canadian scientists Sir Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best.

1930

Uruguay defeated Argentina to win the first World Cup in football (soccer).

1935

1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution.

1936

American blues musician Buddy Guy, who was noted for his slashing electric guitar riffs and passionate vocals, was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana.

1942

Frank Sinatra sang with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in his last recording before venturing on a solo career.

1943

Hitler gets news of Italy’s imminent defection.

1945

The USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine shortly after delivering the internal components of the atomic bombs that were later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; some 900 men died, many of whom succumbed to shark attacks, dehydration, and salt poisoning as they awaited rescue.

1956

The phrase “In God we trust” legally became the national motto of the United States.

1965

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed amendments to the Social Securities Act (1935) that established Medicare and Medicaid. 

1966

The Troggs take their signature hit, “Wild Thing,” to #1.

1974

Watergate affair approaches climax.

1975

Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, under mysterious circumstances.