Today in 1972, George Carlin was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for using profanity onstage during a show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Today in 1980, draft registration began in the United States for 19 and 20-year-old men.
Today in 1992, murder charges against Dr. Jack Kevorkian were dropped in Pontiac, Michigan. He was accused of helping four chronically ill women commit suicide with a machine he built that dispensed lethal gas and drugs.
Today in 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, swimmer Tom Dolan gave the United States its first Gold Medal in the 400-meter individual medley. The men's 800-meter freestyle relay team also won.
Today in 1998, 17-year-old Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women's vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. While spinal surgery four days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest, her story has not ended in tragedy. A vocal advocate for the disabled, she got married in 2013 and the couple welcomed a baby boy a year later.
Today in 1999, Navy divers found the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, in the wreckage of Kennedy's plane in the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard.
Today in 1999, after spending 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's "Liberty Bell Seven" capsule was lifted to the surface.
Today in 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle program ended with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.
Today in 2017, Justin Bieber was barred from performing in China by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture citing his "bad behavior."
Today in 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned after opposing appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as White House Director of Communications.
Today in 2020, it was revealed that in 2020, life expectancy in the US fell by 1.5 years (3 years for Hispanic Americans and 2.9 for Black Americans) in the largest decline since WWII.