1930

New York’s Chrysler Building, at the time the world’s tallest building, opened to the public.

1937

The newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, was opened to pedestrian traffic.

1941

The British Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, killing over 2,000 German sailors.

1942

Doris “Dorie” Miller, a cook aboard the USS West Virginia, became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for displaying “extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety” during Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

1994

Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional cheers of thousands after spending two decades in exile.

1998

Michael Fortier, the government’s star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot. (Fortier was freed in January 2006.)

Birthdays

Actor Lee Meriwether is 90. Football Hall of Famer Jackie Slater is 71. Actor Richard Schiff is 70. Singer Siouxsie Sioux is 68. Actor Lily-Rose Depp is 26.