1861

Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus is endorsed by U.S. Attorney General, 18,000 are jailed without a trial in the next four years.

1935

President Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act protecting workers' rights to organize.

1948

War-ravaged Britain adopts National Health Service Act, which includes medical, unemployment, motherhood, widow, orphan, old age, and death benefits.

1988

After a fourteen-month investigation of influence-peddling by Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese, the independent counsel concludes that Meese "probably violated the criminal law" on at least four occasions, but decided not to prosecute because Meese had not been motivated by a desire for personal, only political, gain (Attorney General Meese declares himself "completely vindicated," but resigns his office; a Justice Department report later concludes that Meese had engaged in "conduct which should not be tolerated of any government employee, especially not the attorney general").

1989

Oliver North fined and sentenced to prison for Iran-Contra crimes, later reversed by Reagan-appointed judges.