1942

The Battle of Midway ended in a decisive victory for American naval forces over Imperial Japan, marking a turning point in the Pacific War.

1965

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Griswold v. Connecticut, struck down, 7-2, a Connecticut law used to prosecute a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Haven for providing contraceptives to married couples.

1976

New York magazine published an article by journalist Nik Cohn entitled “The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” which inspired the film “Saturday Night Fever,” which in turn sparked a nationwide disco craze. (Cohn admitted in 1997 that the article was actually a work of fiction.)

1998

In a crime that shocked the nation and led to stronger state and federal hate crime laws, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old Black man, was hooked by a chain to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. (Two white men were later sentenced to death and executed for the crime; a third was sentenced to life in prison.)

Birthdays

Filmmaker James Ivory is 97. Singer Tom Jones is 85. Actor Liam Neeson is 73. Author Louise Erdrich is 71. Music producer L.A. Reid is 69. Musician Juan Luis Guerra is 68. Former Vice President Mike Pence is 66. Rock musician-TV host Dave Navarro is 58. Rapper Iggy Azalea is 35.