Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1648

The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.

1795

The country of Poland was divided up between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.

1836

Alonzo D. Phillips received a patent for the phosphorous friction safety match.

1861

The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent as Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to President Lincoln.

1901

Anna Edson Taylor, a 43-year-old widow, became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

1929

In the U.S., investors dumped more than 13 million shares on the stock market. The day is known as "Black Thursday."

1931

The upper level of the George Washington Bridge opened for traffic between New York and New Jersey.

1939

Nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Del.

1940

The 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

1945

Pierre Laval of France and Vidkum Abraham Quisling of Norway were executed. The two men were recognized as the two most prominent collaborators of the Nazis.

1945

The United Nations (UN) was formally established less than a month after the end of World War II. The Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories.

1948

The term "cold war" was used for the first time. It was in a speech by Bernard Baruch before the Senate War Investigating Committee.

1949

The cornerstone for the U.N. Headquarters was laid in New York City.

1952

Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared, ''I shall go to Korea'' as he promised to end the conflict.

1960

All remaining American-owned property in Cuba was nationalized. The process of nationalizing all U.S. and foreign-owned property in Cuban had begun on August 6, 1960

1962

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. military forces went on the highest alert in the postwar era in preparation for a possible full-scale war with the Soviet Union. The U.S. blockade of Cuba officially began on this day.

1969

Richard Burton bought his wife Elizabeth Taylor a 69-carat Cartier diamond ring for $1.5 million. Burton presented the ring to Taylor several days later.

1986

Britain broke off relations with Syria after a Jordanian was convicted in an attempted bombing. The evidence in the trial led to the belief that Syria was involved in the attack on the Israeli jetliner.

1987

Thirty years after it was expelled for refusing to answer allegations of corruption, the Teamsters union was welcomed back into the AFL-CIO by a vote of the labor federation's executive council in Miami Beach, Fla.

1989

Reverend Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000 for his conviction on 24 counts of fraud. In 1991, his sentence was reduced to eighteen years and he was released on parole after a total five years in prison.

1992

The Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-U.S. team to win the World Series as they defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in Game 6.

1997

In Arlington, VA, former NBC sportscaster Marv Albert was spared a jail sentence after a courtroom apology to the woman he'd bitten during a sexual encounter.

1999

An Israeli court sentenced American teen-ager Samuel Sheinbein to 24 years in prison for killing an acquaintance in Maryland in 1997.

2001

NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Mars.

2001

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that gave police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of a person's telephone conversation and track people's use of the Internet.

2003

In London, the last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed.

1632

Scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, Holland. He created the first microscope lenses that were powerful enough to observe single-celled animals.

1788

Poet Sarah Joseph Hale was born. She wrote the poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb."

1830

Belva Lockwood was born. She was the first woman formally nominated for the U.S. Presidency.

1537

Jane Seymour, the third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.

1999

Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., died at Bethesda Naval Hospital at age 77.