1867 Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre.
1939 Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph
1945 World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 to Americans.
1972 Northern Ireland's Government and Parliament dissolved by the British Government and 'direct rule' from Westminster is introduced.
1979 Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
1981 US President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, three others are also wounded.
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