2001 — Australian cricketer Don Bradman, one of the greatest run scorers in the history of the game and often judged the greatest player of the 20th century, died at the age of 92.
1990
In Nicaragua, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of the U.S.-financed National Opposition Union achieved an upset victory over the incumbent president, Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
1975
American comedian Chelsea Handler, known for her earthy, bawdy style, was born in Livingston, New Jersey.
1964
American boxer Muhammad Ali, known at the time as Cassius Clay, became the world heavyweight champion by knocking out Sonny Liston in seven rounds.
1956
The Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union came to a close after First Secretary Nikita S. Khrushchev delivered a secret speech denouncing the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
1948
The communists seized control of the government of Czechoslovakia.
1943
British musician George Harrison—lead guitarist of the Beatles, one of the most important and influential bands in the history of rock and roll—was born.
1917
English novelist and critic Anthony Burgess—whose fictional explorations of modern dilemmas combine wit, moral earnestness, and a note of the bizarre—was born.
1913
The Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which permitted a federal income tax, went into effect.
1570
As pope, Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
