56-year-old Crown Prince Akihito is enthroned as emperor of Japan during a ceremony that cost a reported $80 million. Akihito had caused controversy in 1959 when he broke a 1,500-year-old tradition and married a commoner that he had met on a tennis court.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington after thousands of veterans march to the site. The wall is inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the conflict and is now one of the most-visited memorials in Washington.

Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick is published by Harper & Brothers. The book about Captain Ahab and his bold quest for a giant white whale was a flop during Melville's lifetime -- earning him just $556 in the U.S. -- but it will later become a literary classic.

Elvis Presley's first movie Love Me Tender opens at the Paramount Theater in New York. The movie earns back its $1 million cost in just three days, and Elvis would go on to appear in 33 movies during the following 13 years.

Television Screen Magazine, the first television magazine show, launches on NBC. It includes a collection of features on news, lifestyles, fashion and more. The show would only run for three years, but the idea would inspire current shows like 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC and 20/20.