1581-Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard his galleon "Golden Hind" at Deptford, England
1655-Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet defeats Barbary pirates
1789-First U.S. Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington's presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ends 1791)
1949-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C.
1968-U.S. civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee
1973-World Trade Center, then the world's tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
1975-Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800