1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
1935 – Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
1941 – German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
1963 – The Viet Cong wins its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac.
1967 – Ronald Reagan sworn in as Governor of California
1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported.
2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
2006 – An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.
2011 – January 2011 Baghdad shootings take place.
2013 – Barack Obama signs the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.
