Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, rising 41 feet in 2.5 seconds.

Princess Elizabeth of York, who would reign as Queen Elizabeth II for over seven decades, was born in London, third in line to the throne.

Richard Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett claimed to have flown a plane over the North Pole, a feat later disputed but celebrated at the time as a triumph of polar aviation.

President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act, establishing federal regulation of American civil aviation and laying groundwork for the modern airline industry.

Detroit's Purple Gang violently seized control of the city's illegal liquor trade, exploiting Prohibition and proximity to Canada.

Norma Jeane Mortenson is born in Los Angeles, later transforming into Marilyn Monroe, one of the twentieth century's most enduring cultural icons.

National Geographic published the first natural-color underwater photographs, taken by Dr. William Longley and Charles Martin off the Florida Keys.

Fidel Castro, who would lead the Cuban Revolution and rule Cuba for nearly five decades as a one-party communist state, was born on a farm in Birán, Cuba.

Escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini dies of peritonitis in Detroit, a death fed by decades of legend involving a Montreal punch to the stomach.