1901: U.S. Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.

1912: The first Calgary Stampede began in Alberta, but it was called "The Last and Best Great West Frontier Days Celebration."

1923: The movie classic "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," starring Lon Chaney, was released throughout the U.S.

1948: Christa Corrigan was born in Boston. In 1986 the New Hampshire schoolteacher, Christa McAuliffe, to be the first ordinary citizen in space, died with six crew members when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

1963: Walter Cronkite anchored the first half-hour newscast on network television. He interviewed President John Kennedy.

1976: Dana Dover, Gary Mandau, and Chris Lyons of Portland, Oregon, set a world record by completing a merry-go-round ride of 312 hours 43 minutes. (13 days).

1978: At the wedding of Emilio Estefan and Gloria Fajardo, arriving guests had to do the conga on the way to their seats.

1988: Responding to an alligator baby boom, Florida held its first full-scale alligator hunt in 26 years.

1993: The Economist magazine reported that Japan’s meteorology service had abandoned a study to determine if earthquakes were caused by catfish wiggling their tails. After seven years of research the agency refused to confirm or deny the Japanese legend.

1995: The first song ever to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at #1 was Michael Jackson’s "You Are Not Alone."

1999: The Clintons bought a home in the New York suburb of Chappaqua for $1.7 million, establishing residency for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who planned to run for the U.S. Senate.

2000: Singer Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys married longtime girlfriend Leighanne.

2002: A Chinese couple who walked around Hangzhou handcuffed together to show their love were arrested when mistaken for escaped convicts. The couple was released after promising never to misuse police gear again.

2003: A federal appeals court in San Francisco threw out more than 100 death sentences in Arizona, Montana and Idaho because the inmates had been sent to death row by judges instead of juries.