Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1790

Thomas Jefferson reported to President Washington in New York City as the new secretary of state.

1804

The French civil code, the Code Napoleon, was adopted.

1918

During World War I, Germany launched the Somme offensive, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive.

1945

Allied bombers began four days of raids over Germany during World War II.

1946

The United Nations set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York City.

1960

Police fired on demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, killing some 70 people.

1963

Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

1965

More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

1972

The Supreme Court ruled that states may not require one year residency for voting eligibility.

1985

Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.

1989

Randall Dale Adams, whose conviction for killing a police officer was overturned after the documentary ''The Thin Blue Line'' challenged evidence, was released from a Texas prison.

2000

A divided Supreme Court ruled the government lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.

2000

Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.

2006

The social media site X (formerly Twitter) is founded.

2019

The 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion occurs, killing at least 47 people and injuring 640 others.

2022

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashes in Guangxi, China, killing 132 people.

1685

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.

1806

Benito Juarez, Mexico's first president of Indian ancestry, was born in Oaxaca.

2025

George Foreman, American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. (b. 1949)