The United Nations approved a proposal to partition Palestine. (1947) Palestine was separated into one Arab state and one Jewish state, ending the British Mandate for Palestine. The approved proposal paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The first flight over the South Pole occurred. (1929) Admiral Richard Byrd and his crew flew an 18-hour round-trip flight from the Ross Ice Shelf base to the South Pole in a three-engine Ford Trimotor plane.
The Warren Commission was established to investigate US President Kennedy’s assassination. (1963) US President Lyndon B. Johnson established the commission. Its report came almost a year later and presented findings that Lee Harvey Oswald had alone plotted and assassinated the president, and Jack Ruby had alone murdered Oswald. The findings to this day remain controversial.
Coffee rationing began in the US. (1942) Though there was plenty of supply, the ships used to transport coffee beans to the United States were needed for war efforts in World War II.
“Blue baby syndrome” was surgically corrected for the first time. (1944) The syndrome basically results from a lack of oxygen in the blood and is often caused by congenital heart defects, such as Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). This particular defect was corrected for the first time on this day at Johns Hopkins Hospital by surgeon Alfred Blalock and assistant Vivien Thomas.
The first American football game was broadcast nationally on the radio. (1934) NBC radio set up a national radio network of 94 stations to broadcast the game. The Detroit Lions were defeated by the Chicago Bears, 19-16.
Pong, the first video game that became a commercial success, was released. (1972) Pong was released by Nolan Bushnell who was also the co-founder of the video game company, Atari. Pong is similar to digital tennis or ping-pong, and its great success was a big part of the early beginnings of the video game industry.
NASA launched the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule with a chimpanzee aboard. (1961) The chimpanzee, Enos, and the capsule orbited the Earth twice. The spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean as planned, and Enos was no worse for wear.
A traffic light system was patented in the US for the first time. (1910) Earnest E. Sirrine was issued the patent, which allowed for a changeable traffic device that would be installed at street intersections to help regulate traffic flow. This first system had two display options: stop and go.
The first settlement in what is now Northern California was founded. (1777) El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, now known as San Jose, was founded as a Spanish colony.
The United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy battled on the football field for the first time. (1890) The Navy won the first Army-Navy game, 24-0, playing at West Point.