On Aug. 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.
In 1858 a new city ordinance provided for Chicago’s first paid fire department.
In 1876 “Wild Bill” Hickok was fatally shot from behind while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
In 1923 Warren Harding, the 29th president of the United States, died in office in San Francisco at age 58.
In 1934 Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany upon the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
In 1943, in World War II, Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy became a war hero by rescuing members of his crew after their PT boat was sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific.
In 1974 former White House counsel John Dean was sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. (He served four months.)
In 1977 Congress approved a bill to establish a Department of Energy.
In 1983 the House of Representatives voted 338-90 to designate the third Monday in January a federal holiday in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate.
