1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.

1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.

1885 – L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.

1944 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.

1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.

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 ScottN wrote: 

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
I wish I had a humorous or pithy reply for this statement of Ike's.  But, when the Pentagon gets weapon systems developed or proliferated that it did not even request, that seems a"leading indicator" of the veracity of Ike's observation.

1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".

1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

1919 – Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.

1581 – The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
With much derision and sarcastic laughter from the guys at Encarta...

2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.