On This Day in:

1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded under a sentence that had been brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I.

1652 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed itself to be an independent

1682 – William Penn landed at what is now Chester, PA. He was the founder of Pennsylvania.

1735 – John Adams, the second President of the United States, was born in Braintree, MA. His son became the sixth President of the U.S.

1817 – The independent government of Venezuela was established by Simon Bolivar.

1831 – Escaped slave Nat Turner was apprehended in Southampton County, VA, several weeks after leading the bloodiest slave uprising in American history.

1875 – The constitution of Missouri was ratified by popular vote.

1893 – The U.S. Senate gave final approval to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.

1894 – The time clock was patented by Daniel Cooper of Rochester, NY.

1938 – Orson Welles' 'The War of the Worlds' aired on CBS radio. The belief that the realistic radio dramatization was a live news event about a Martian invasion caused panic among listeners.

1944 – Martha Graham's ballet 'Appalachian Spring' premiered at the Library of Congress.

1945 – The U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing.

1953 – General George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1961 – The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force of approximately 58 megatons.

1961 – The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved an order to remove Joseph Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

1966 – The National Organization for Women was founded.

1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered an immediate end to all school segregation.

1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon approved legislation to increase Social Security spending by $5.3 billion.

1972 – In Illinois, 45 people were killed when two trains collided on Chicago's south side.

1975 – Prince Juan Carlos assumed power in Spain as dictator Francisco Franco was near death.

1975 – The New York Daily News ran the headline 'Ford to City: Drop Dead.' The headline came a day after U.S. President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

1982 – Portugal's constitution was revised for the first time since it was ratified on April 25, 1976.

1984 – In Poland, police found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerry Popieluszko. His death was blamed on four security officers.

1989 – Mitsubishi Estate Company announced it would buy 51 percent of Rockefeller Group Inc. of New York.

1993 – Martin Fettman, America's first veterinarian in space, performed the world's first animal dissections in space, while aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

1993 – The United Nations deadline concerning ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide passed with country's military still in control.

1995 – Federalist prevailed over separatists in Quebec in a referendum concerning secession from the federation of Canada.

1997 – The play revival 'The Cherry Orchard' opened.

1998 – The terrorist who hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane and the 39 people on board was killed when anti-terrorist squads raided the plane.

2001 – In New York City, U.S. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

2001 – Michael Jordan returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards after a 3 1/2 year retirement. The Wizards lost 93-91 to the New York Knicks.

Sir Christopher Wren 1632 – Architect, astronomer, mathematician John Adams 1735 – 2nd U.S. President Charles Atlas 1893 – Fitness Expert Herschel Bernardi 1923 – Actor ('Peter Gunn'), voice of Charlie the Tuna in television commercials Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane/Starship) 1939 Otis Williams (The Temptations) 1941 Henry Winkler 1945 – Actor (The Fonz on “Happy Days”) Timothy B. Schmit (Poco, The Eagles) 1947 Harry Hamlin 1951 – Actor (Clash of the Titans)