Today in 1776, the British hanged Nathan Hale as a spy during the Revolutionary War.
Today in 1953, the world's first cloverleaf freeway interchange opened to traffic in Los Angeles. It connected the Pasadena, Harbor, Hollywood and Santa Ana freeways.
Today in 1961, President John Kennedy signed a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps, after issuing Executive Order #10924 the previous March.
Today in 1969, Willie Mays, of the San Francisco Giants, hit his 600th career home run in a game against the San Diego Padres.
Today in 1975, President Gerald Ford survived an assassination attempt by Sara Jane Moore outside a San Francisco hotel when a civilian bystander, attempting to disarm her, deflected the gunshot.
Today in 1994, prosecutors from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties announced that child molestation charges would not be filed against singer Michael Jackson. However, the case remained open until 1999.
Today in 1995, both sides rested in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. And when they did, OJ suddenly gave an impassioned please of innocence – which was seen as cheating because he had declined to testify in his own defense.
Today in 2003, David Hempleman-Adams became the first person to cross the Atlantic in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.
Today in 2011,CERN scientists announced their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light.
Today in 2014,NASA's MAVEN space probe successfully arrived in orbit over Mars.
Today in 2015,Volkswagen admitted that 11-million cars were wrongly programmed to appear to emit lesser emissions than they actually were.