1955
Dr. Salk medicine man
The polio vaccine of Dr. Jonas Salk was called "safe, effective, and potent."
-
1861
The Civil War began when Fort Sumter was attacked.
-
1862
James J. Andrews led the raiding party that stole the Confederate locomotive "The General," inspiring the 1926 Buster Keaton movie.
-
1945
President Franklin Roosevelt died.
-
1961
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human in space and also the first human to orbit the earth in a spacecraft.
-
1981
The first space shuttle, Columbia, took its first test flight.
-
1983
Harold Washington was elected Chicago’s first African-American mayor.
-
1999
Arkansas federal judge Susan Webber Wright found President Clinton in contempt of court for lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
or choose another day:
or select month and date:
or enter a year:
