sarah-palin-alaska-from-patriot-room

1431 – Joan of Arc handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon

1496 – Leonadro da Vinci unsuccessfully tests flying machine

1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther (that will teach him)

1749 – First land grants issued that lead to establishment of Vermont

1777 – George Washington defeats Cornwallis at Battle of Princeton

1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is first president of African Republic of Liberia

1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: Tokugawa shogunate abolished

1870 – Construction of Brooklyn Bridge begins

1899 – First known use of the word automobile, in a New York Times editorial

1924 – English explorer Howard Carter discovers sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings

1925 – Benito Mussolini assumes dictatorial powers in Italy

1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first female speaker in the US

1938 – March of Dimes established by President Roosevelt

1945 – Admiral Nimitz given command of all US Naval Forces in preparation for assault on Iwo Jim and Okinawa

1947 – Proceedings of Congress televised for the first time

1953 – Frances and Oliver Bolton become first mother and son to serve in Congress simultaneously

1959 – Alaska admitted as 49th state (and thanks to Sarah Palin, our new favorite state)

1961 – US severs diplomatic ties with Cuba

1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro (that will teach him)

1977 – Apple Computer incorporated

1988 – Margaret Thatcher becomes longest serving British Prime Minister in 20th Century

1990 – Manuel Noriega surrenders to US forces

1993 – George H.W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign second START treaty

1999 – Mars polar lander launched