President George Washington exercises the first presidential veto as he vetoes a bill that would have apportioned more Congressional seats to Northern states. Washington questioned the constitutionality of the bill, trying to avoid claims of favoritism toward his native Virginia.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death by Judge Irving Kaufman following their convictions for conspiracy to commit espionage. The controversial sentence cam shortly after the Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb, which it developed most likely with American nuclear secrets.
