| On this date in: |
| 1890 |
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas. |
| 1910 |
Hall of Fame UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was born near Martinsville, Ind. |
| 1933 |
Nazi Germany announced it was withdrawing from the League of Nations. |
| 1944 |
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler. |
| 1947 |
Air Force test pilot Charles E. Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier when he flew the experimental Bell X-1 rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California. |
| 1960 |
Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy suggested the formation of a Peace Corps during a talk at the University of Michigan. |
| 1964 |
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. |
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| AP Photo |
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| 1968 |
The first live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7. |
| 1977 |
Singer Bing Crosby died at age 73. |
| 1979 |
Hockey Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scored the first of his record 894 goals in a home game against the Vancouver Canucks. |
| 1986 |
Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1987 |
A 58-hour drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center. |
| 1990 |
Composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein died at age 72. |
| 1991 |
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 2006 |
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose punishing sanctions on North Korea for carrying out a nuclear test. |
