On this date:
In 1767, the British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties on certain goods shipped to America. Colonists bitterly protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.
In 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry made governor.
In 1941, Polish statesman, pianist and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski died in New York at age 80.
In 1946, British authorities arrested more than 27-hundred Jews in Palestine in an attempt to stamp out alleged terrorism.
In 1949, the government of South Africa enacted a ban against racially-mixed marriages.
In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission voted against re-instating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
In 1966, the United States bombed fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.
In 1967, Jerusalem was re-unified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty, as it was being meted out, could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." (The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.)
In 1988, the Supreme Court upheld, 7-to-1, the independent counsel law.
Ten years ago: Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dave Stewart of the Oakland A's became the first pitchers to hurl no-hitters in both the National and American Leagues on the same day. (Oakland shut out the Blue Jays, 5-to-0, while Los Angeles blanked the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-to-0.)
Five years ago: The shuttle "Atlantis" and the space station "Mir" docked in orbit. A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing at least 500 people. Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, California, at age 74.
One year ago: Urging the biggest expansion in Medicare's history, President Clinton proposed that the government help older Americans pay for prescription drugs. Ten-thousand demonstrators rallied in central Serbia, demanding the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic. Abdullah Ocalan, leader of Turkey's rebel Kurds, was convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
"Sin ... has been made not only ugly but passe. People are no longer sinful, they are only immature or under privileged or frightened or, more particularly, sick."
-- Phyllis McGinley, American poet (1905-1978).