On This Day in History

Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.

The United Kingdom tested its first hydrogen bomb over Malden Island in Operation Grapple.

Disapproving of General Tôn Thất Đính's handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on his forces and ousted Đính from his post.

Police opened fire during a confrontation with a group of Jackson State College students, killing two students and injuring twelve others.

The Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan by the United States, and the U.S. occupation government was abolished.

Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for US$82.5 million, making it the world's most expensive painting at the time.

A runaway train loaded with hazardous chemicals traveled driverless for 66 miles (106 km) through Ohio before being stopped near Kenton.

Arsenal became the first football team in England's top flight to finish a season undefeated since Preston North End did so in 1888–1889.

Three days before her seventeenth birthday, Jessica Watson arrived in Sydney after sailing non-stop and unassisted around the world.

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is hospitalised after an assassination attempt.