1486 — To guard against impure literature Berthold of Henneberg (Archbishop and Elector of Mainz) establishes in his diocese the first known censorship of the press.
1493 -– That “white European non-female” Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey.
1528 — Ferdinand of Austria, younger brother to “Holy” Roman Emperor Charles the Fifth, issues the first secular mandate forbidding the Anabaptist religious movement.
1949 -– A silent disc-shaped object circles Hickam Field near Honolulu (Hawaii) at 2:07 pm. It blinks once every second and flies away climbing into the northeast sky. The sighting is listed by the US Air Force as an “unknown.”
1952 — My good friend and ex-fellow-missionary JoeM is born.
1965 -– President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims the Great Society during his State of the Union address.
1974 -– President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1975 -– Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint. (I don’t know when she was born, but I can assert with confidence that there were thousands — if not millions — of American-born saints before.)
2007 -– Nancy Pelosi is elected the first female Speaker of the House in US history.