The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first sta...
Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers.
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States.
Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.
The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone.
Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.
Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.
Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.
The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.
Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.
Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872.
Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".