Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1775

The U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress.

1801

The U.S. state of Tennessee outlawed the practice of dueling.

1871

Journalist-explorer Henry M. Stanley found missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone in central Africa. Stanley delivered his famous greeting: ''Dr. Livingstone, I presume?''

1879

Western Union and the National Bell Telephone Company reached a settlement over various telephone patents.

1917

41 suffragists were arrested in front of the White House.

1919

The American Legion held its first national convention, in Minneapolis.

1928

Michinomiya Hirohito was enthroned as Emperor of Japan.

1951

Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, N.J., called his counterpart in Alameda, Calif.

1954

The Iwo Jima Memorial was dedicated in Arlington, Va.

1957

102,368 people attended the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams game. The crowd was the largest regular-season crowd in NFL history.

1969

The children's educational program ''Sesame Street'' made its debut on PBS.

1969

"Sesame Street" made its debut on PBS.

1970

The Great Wall of China opened for tourism.

1975

The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism. (The resolution was repealed in December 1991.)

1975

The ore-hauling ship Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew of 29 vanished during a storm in Lake Superior.

1976

The Utah Supreme Court gave approval for Gary Gilmore to be executed, according to his wishes. The convicted murderer was put to death the following January.

1977

The Major Indoor Soccer League was officially organized in New York City.

1980

CBS News anchor Dan Rather claimed he had been kidnapped in a cab. It turned out that Rather had refused to pay the cab fare.

1982

The newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C.

1982

In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to visitors.

1984

The U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1986

Camille Sontag and Marcel Coudari, two Frenchmen were released by the captors that held them in Lebanon.

1988

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that Texas would be the home of the atom-smashing super-collider. The project was cancelled by a vote of the U.S. Congress in Oct. 1993.

1990

Chandra Shekhar was sworn in as India's new prime minister.

1993

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Brady Bill, which called for a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

1993

John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted on the charge of marital sexual assault against his wife who sexually mutilated him. Lorena Bobbitt was later acquitted of malicious wounding her husband.

1994

Iraq recognized Kuwait's borders in the hope that the action would end trade sanctions.

1994

U.S. officials that it planned to stop enforcing the arms embargo against the Bosnian government the following week. The U.N. Security Council was opposed to lifting the ban.

1995

In Katmandu, Nepal, searchers rescued 549 hikers after a massive avalanche struck the Himalayan foothills. The disaster left 24 tourists and 32 Nepalese dead.

1995

Nigeria's military rulers hanged playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa along with several other anti-government activists.

1996

Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins) became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 50,000 yards.

1997

A judge in Cambridge, Mass., reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to manslaughter and sentenced the English au pair to the 279 days she'd already served in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

1997

WorldCom Inc. acquired MCI Communication Corporation. It was the largest merger in U.S. history valued at $37 billion.

1997

A jury in Virginia convicted Mir Aimal Kasi of the murder of two CIA employees in 1993.

2001

The World Trade Organization approved China's membership.

2004

Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) was awarded the "Man for Peace" prize in Rome at the opening of a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

1483

Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, was born in Eisleben, Germany.

1947

Dave Loggins, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his 1974 hit single "Please Come to Boston" as well as his 1984 duet with Anne Murray, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do". (d. 2024)

1982

Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev died of a heart attack at age 75. He was suceeded by Yuri V. Andropov.