1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.

1897 – The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

1914 – The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

1934 – The first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated cartoon, The Discontented Canary, is released to movie theatres.

1952 – The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published.

1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.

1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.

1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.

1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1653 – Johann Pachelbel, German organist, composer, and educator (d. 1706)

1875 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American soldier and author (d. 1950)

1907 – Walter Reuther, American union leader, founded United Auto Workers (d. 1970)

1920 – Liz Carpenter, American journalist, author, and activist (d. 2010)

1922 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 2007)

1923 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (d. 1969)

1925 – Art Pepper, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1982)

1933 – Conway Twitty, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993)

1935 – Seiji Ozawa, Japanese conductor and director

1938 – Alan Dershowitz, American lawyer and author

1939 – Lily Tomlin, American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer

1942 – C. J. Cherryh, American author and educator

1944 – Archie Bell, American soul singer-songwriter and musician

1944 – Leonard Slatkin, American conductor and composer

1948 – Russ Kunkel, American drummer and producer