1607 – Some 100 English colonists arrived on the west bank of what is now the James River in present-day Virginia and founded Jamestown.
1821 – Samuel Rust of New York City patented the first practical printing press built in the U.S.
1842 – Opera composer Arthur Sullivan (H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance) was born in London.
1846 – President James K. Polk declared war on México in a dispute over Texas.
1898 – Thomas Edison sued the American Mutoscope Company, claiming they infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph movie camera.
1907 – Writer Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Loving Spirit) was born in London.
1949 – The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.
1958 – Vice-President Richard Nixon was attacked in Caracas, Venezuela, during his Latin America goodwill trip, nearly overturning the car in which he was riding. The mob was angry about U.S. Cold War policy.
1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in St. Peter’s Square in Rome by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca.
