In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, an engineering student at the University of Texas in Austin, went on an armed rampage that killed 14 people, most of whom were shot by Whitman while he was perched in the clock tower of the main campus building. Whitman, who had also slain his wife and mother hours earlier, was finally gunned down by police.

Ten years ago

Mel Gibson issued a statement in which he denied being a bigot; he also apologized to “everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words” he used when he was arrested for investigation of drunken driving. Fidel Castro released a statement a day after ceding power to his brother Raul in which he sought to reassure Cubans that his health was stable after intestinal surgery.

Five years ago

The U.S. House of Representatives passed, 269-161, emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever financial default; Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House for the first time since being shot in January 2011 to cast a “yes” vote.

One year ago

Japan’s Imperial Household Agency released a digital version of Emperor Hirohito’s radio address on Aug. 15, 1945, announcing his country’s surrender in World War II; the digital recording offered clearer audio, although Hirohito spoke in an arcane form of Japanese that many of his countrymen would have found difficult to comprehend.

— By The Associated Press