Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1868

Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called a ''Type-Writer.''

1888

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, effectively making him the first black candidate nominated for U.S. president. (The nomination went to Benjamin Harrison.)

1931

American aviator Wiley Post and his navigator Harold Catty began a record-setting journey of flying 15,000 miles around the world in only 7 days.

1947

The Senate joined the House in overriding President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.

1956

Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

1961

The continent of Antarctica was officially established as an international scientific preserve after an agreement by 12 countries, including the U.S. and Soviet Union, not to claim it as a territory.

1969

Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.

1972

President Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. The revelation that the conversation was recorded led to Nixon's resignation in 1974.

1972

Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon, which prohibited discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities, such as sports, at institutions that receive federal funding.

1985

All 329 people aboard an Air-India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, apparently because of a bomb.

1992

John Gotti, convicted of racketeering charges, was sentenced in New York to life in prison.

1993

Lorena Bobbitt, of Prince William County, Va., sexually mutilated her husband, John, after he allegedly raped her.

1994

The iconic movie Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, was released in theaters for the first time.

1995

Dr. Jonas Salk, the medical pioneer who developed the first vaccine against polio, died in La Jolla, Calif., at age 80.

1997

Civil rights activist Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, died in New York of burns suffered in a fire set by her 12-year old grandson; she was 61.