Also on this date
the second New Madrid Earthquake struck, with an estimated magnitude of 7.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In 1812,
In 1845,
Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
In 1962,
Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
In 1964,
the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.
In 1968,
North Korea seized the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, commanded by Lloyd “Pete” Bucher, charging its crew with being on a spying mission; one sailor was killed and 82 were taken prisoner. (Bucher and his crew were released the following December after enduring 11 months of brutal captivity at the hands of the North Koreans.)
In 1973,
President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War, and would be formally signed four days later in Paris.
In 1977,
the TV miniseries “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.
In 2002,
John Walker Lindh, a U.S.born Taliban fighter, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges that he’d conspired to kill fellow Americans. (Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support for the Taliban; he was released in May 2019, after serving more than 17 years.)
Allies and adversaries of President Hugo Chavez took to the streets of Caracas by the thousands, staging rival demonstrations to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of Venezuela’s democracy.
A blizzard with hurricane-force winds brought much of the East Coast to a standstill, dumping as much as 3 feet of snow, stranding tens of thousands of travelers and shutting down Washington D.C. and New York City.
“Sopranos” actor Annabella Sciorra confronted Harvey Weinstein from the witness stand at his New York trial, testifying that Weinstein had overpowered and raped her; she was the first of Weinstein’s accusers to testify at his sexual assault trial.
Associated Press