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Queen Anne of England knighted Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.

President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for New York for his inauguration.

A bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.

Golf’s first recorded hole-in-one was scored by Tom Morris at Prestwick’s 8th hole in Scotland.

American aviator Harriet Quimbly became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, going from Dover, England, to nearby Calais, France, in 59 minutes.

Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.

Major League Baseball’s first opening day no-hitter took place as Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians defeated the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, at Chicago’s Comiskey Park.

A Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the MV Goya, which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers; it’s estimated that up to 7,000 died.

Financier Bernard Baruch coined the term “cold war” in a speech in South Carolina.

Martin Luther King wrote his famous letter from the Birmingham Jail, also known as The Negro is Your Brother. The letter defended the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism.

Facing heavy ground losses, American forces resumed the bombing of North Vietnam.