Puritan leader John Winthrop is born in Edwardstone, England. Winthrop was a leading figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, serving 12 terms as governor and founding Boston, the "city upon a hill", as a model for the world.
Writer Jack London is born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco. Growing up in relative poverty in California, London later worked on the Klondike Gold Rush, which inspired his international bestseller Call of the Wild. London is considered one of the first international literary celebrities.
Secretary of State John F. Dulles announces the American policy of "massive retaliation" to combat Soviet aggression. Dulles, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, valued the threat of nuclear force as a viable deterrence model.
