1057 – Macbeth, the King of Scotland, was killed by the son of King Duncan.

1848 – The dental chair was patented by M. Waldo Hanchett.

1877 – Thomas Edison wrote to the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy” when answering the telephone.

1911 – The product Crisco was introduced by Procter & Gamble Company.

1914 – The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The first vessel to pass through the canal was the American cargo and passenger ship SS Ancon.

1918 – Diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Russia were severed. 

1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in an airplane crash in near Point Barrow, AK.

1939 – “The Wizard of Oz” premiered in Hollywood, CA. Judy Garland became famous for the movie’s song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

1943 – Because of his special talent to use food scraps in both unusual and appetizing recipes, the U.S. War Department awarded Sgt. Edward Dzuba the Legion of Merit.

1944 – The Allied forces of World War II landed in southern France.

1945 – The Allies proclaimed V-J Day a day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally.

1947 – India became independent from Britain and was divided into the countries of India and Pakistan. India had been under British about 200 years.

1948 – The Republic of Korea was proclaimed.

1948 – CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast with anchorman Douglas Edwards.

1949 – In San Francisco, a stunt leap off the Golden Gate Bridge was performed for the first time.

1961 – East German workers began construction of the Berlin Wall.

1970 – Mrs. Pat Palinkas became the first woman to ‘play’ in a pro football game when she held the ball for the Orlando, FL, Panthers.

1971 – U.S. President Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, rents and prices. 

1983 – Six-month-old Lisa Harap of Queens Village, NY became the youngest identifiable living person to appear on a cover of “TIME” magazine.

1986 – The U.S. Senate approved a package of economic sanctions against South Africa. The ban included the importing of steel, uranium, textiles, coal, and produce from South Africa.

1992 – Vietnam blamed Hollywood for creating the “myth” concerning the issue of U.S. servicemen still being held prisoner in Indochina.

1994 – The U.S. Social Security Administration became an independent government agency. It had been a part of the Department of Health and Human Services agency. 

1997 – The U.S. Justice Department decided not to prosecute FBI officials in connection with the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho. The investigation dealt with an alleged cover-up. 

2000 – A group of 100 people from North Korea arrived in South Korea for temporary reunions with relatives they had not seen for half a century. Also, a group of 100 South Koreans visited the North.

2001 – Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own. They had discovered two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper. 

2011 – Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

1969 – Woodstock began in a field near Yasgur’s Farm at Bethel, New York. The three-day concert featured 24 rock bands and drew a crowd of more than 300,000 young people. The event came to symbolize the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

police in Watts, 1966

Police searching men in the Watts district of Los Angeles in March 1966, seven months after the confrontations between police and residents that became known as the Watts Riots and that were followed by ongoing tension and violence in the community.Bettmann/Corbis/AP Images