A West Caribbean Airways passenger flight crashed near Machiques, Venezuela, resulting in the death of all 160 people onboard.

Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, died in Saudi Arabia at the age of 74. He had assumed power through a military coup but was himself deposed in 1979. He is widely considered as one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century.

A Northwest Airlines passenger flight crashed right after take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. 155 of 156 people on board died in the crash. The sole survivor was a four year old girl.

After a police raid on Spahn Ranch, Charles Manson was arrested.

Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

Hungarian actor, Bela Lugosi, died at the age of 73. He is best known for his portrayal of Dracula and his subsequent participation in the films of director Ed Wood.

Serial killer, Carl Panzram, was arrested in Washington, DC. He admited to killing 21 people and is reported to have shown no remorse even at the final moments of his life, before his was hung.

Baseball player, Ray Chapman, was hit in the head by a fastball and died early the next day. He is the only player to ever die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.

The Imperial University of Japan accepted its first female students.

Israeli politician, Menachem Begin, was born in Brest, Russian. He served as the 6th Prime Minister of Israel and was the recipient of the Nobel peace prize. He was also the leader of Irgun, a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine from 1931 to 1948 and committed several attacks against the British Mandate of Palestine.