| On this date in: |
| 1798 |
Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it a federal crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the U.S. government. |
| 1881 |
Outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias Billy the Kid, was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, N.M. |
| 1912 |
Folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Okla.. |
| 1913 |
Gerald R. Ford Jr., the 38th president of the United States, was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in Omaha, Neb. (His mother’s second husband later adopted and renamed him.) |
| 1921 |
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted in Dedham, Mass., of killing a shoe company paymaster and his guard. (They were executed in 1927.) |
| 1933 |
All German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed. |
| 1958 |
The army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy. |
| 1966 |
Eight student nurses were murdered by Richard Speck in a Chicago dormitory. |
| 1976 |
Jimmy Carter won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in New York City. |
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| AP Photo |
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| 1999 |
Race-based school busing in Boston ended after 25 years. |
| 1999 |
Major league baseball umpires voted to resign and not work the final month of the season. |
| 2003 |
Journalist Robert Novak identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in his newspaper column, citing two Bush administration officials. |
| 2004 |
The Senate voted 50-48 against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. |
