American Civil War ends

CNN Launches

Big Ben rings out over London for the first time

By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”

Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first known explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest,

Barry Bonds hits 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth on MLB list

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, a stunning technological and artistic achievement, opens to the public after five years of construction

Last day of Model T production at Ford

Four years after the United States won its independence from Great Britain, 55 state delegates, including George Washington, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, convene in Philadelphia to compose a new U.S. constitution

After 14 years, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River opens, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time

Benjamin Franklin reveals his design for bifocal glasses

A thousand pioneers head West as part of the Great Emigration

American Red Cross founded

Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt set a date for the cross-Channel landing that would become D-Day

Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffers a massive eruption

George Washington criticizes “taxation without representation”

First Academy Awards ceremony

Parliament passes the Quartering Act, outlining the locations and conditions in which British soldiers are to find room and board in the American colonies