The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.

The NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.

In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.

Madeira School headmistress Jean Harris shoots and kills Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower

Formation of the Irish Army Ranger Wing

Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.

Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged with My Lai war crimes.

In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later retracts his guilty plea.

Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky sacked rival General Nguyen Chanh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.

Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.

Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba and appoints himself as the "provisional president".

The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.

An earthquake in Long Beach, California kills 115 people and causes an estimated $40 million dollars in damage.

Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.

Batangas is formally founded as one of the Philippines's earliest encomiendas.

The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.

Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.

Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.

Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.

El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.

The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.

The KNIL also known as the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.

Napoleon I of France is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.

Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.

French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.

An agreement between Nadir Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku.

Susenyos defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, which makes him Emperor of Ethiopia.