Events
- 1847 – Cumberland School of Law founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
- 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
- 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
- 1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
- 1958 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- 1959 – First Congressional elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
- 1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
- 1976 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
- 1996 – The controversial child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a U.S. federal court.