Today in 1881, Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops. He'd been a fugitive since "Custer's Last Stand" at Little Big Horn.
Today in 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at Democratic convention.
Today in 1944, a clique of German officers attempted to kill Adolph Hitler. Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg left a briefcase concealing a bomb at Hitler's feet during a meeting. The bomb killed 4 people, but a table shielded Hitler. The conspirators, believing Hitler was dead, tried to take over. But by midnight, they and von Stauffenberg had been shot.
Today in 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. With Michael Collins in control of orbiting the Apollo 11, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface in the lunar module "Eagle," where they spent over 21 hours. Armstrong stepped onto the moon first, and said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Later, he admitted that he'd goofed. He had meant to say, "One small step for a man…" The moonwalk was the culmination of a national goal, set by President Kennedy, to land an American on the moon before the decade's end.
Today in 1983, the last episode of "Taxi," aired on NBC-TV.
Today in 1984, "Miss America" Vanessa Williams was asked by pageant officials to resign because of nude photographs of her that were published in "Penthouse" magazine without her consent. She turned in her crown three days later. The organization finally apologized in 2015.
Today in 1993, Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster committed suicide. He was a former partner of Hillary Clinton at Rose Law Firm. Documents about Whitewater were then taken from his office and turned over to Clinton's lawyers.
Today in 1994,J. Simpson put up a $500,000 reward for the capture of his wife's "real killer." Simpson's legal advisers activated a toll-free number for leads. They got nooch.
Today in 1995, baseball Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider and Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New York to tax evasion.
Today in 2000, a federal grand jury indicted two former Utah Olympic officials for their alleged roles in paying one million dollars in cash and gifts to help bring the 2002 games to Salt Lake City.
Today in 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 receives its Royal Assent.
Today in 2006, during an appearance on "The Tonight Show", Colin Farrell was confronted by phone sex worker Dessarae Bradford, who had been stalking him. He later got a restraining order against her, but over the years…the stalking behavior has continued.
Today in 2012, 12 people were killed and 70 were injured when James Holmes opened fire at a showing of the “Dark Knight” in Aurora, Colorado. His trial began on April 27, 2015 and on July 16th of this year he was convicted of twenty-four counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of possessing explosives.
Today in 2015, the hacker group known as the Impact Team announced that they’d hacked the cheating dating site Ashley Madison…and cheaters everywhere wet themselves.
Today in 2018, director James Gunn was fired as director of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" by Disney after past offensive tweets surface. While Disney resisted protests from a number of their stars, Gunn was ultimately re-hired.
Today in 2020, the world heard the news that a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) was able to trigger immune response and antibodies.