1889

The Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims.

1954

The publicly televised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began.

1970

Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observed the first “Earth Day.”

2000

In a dramatic pre-dawn raid, armed immigration agents seized Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of a custody dispute, from his relatives’ home in Miami; Elian was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.