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1863 - Federal batteries and ships bombard Fort Sumter, Charleston.

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1916 - US Senate confirms Johannes Hugo von Engelken as Mint director.

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1939 - The Wizard of Oz movie opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in New York.

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1940 - US President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William King meet at Ogdensburg, New York for a conference on hemispheric defence. They announce a joint defence commission on North American defence.

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1942 - US bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attacking Rouen, France.

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1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent.

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1955 - Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 and doing $1.8 billion damage.

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1958 - World's first Moon probe, USA's Thor-Able, explodes 77 seconds after launch.

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1959 - Quake Lake is formed in Yellowstone National Park in Montana by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

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1960 - CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers is found guilty of espionage by the Soviet Union, sentenced to ten years in prison.

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