Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1154

The only Englishman to become a pope, Nicholas Breakspear, became Adrian IV.

1619

The first Thanksgiving celebration took place in America when a group landed on what became Berkeley Plantation in Virginia; they celebrated and gave thanks with a meal.

1674

French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette erected a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan.

1783

Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.

1786

The National Grange, the first organized agricultural movement in the United States, was founded.

1786

The Franciscan Mission to the Indians was founded in Santa Barbara, California.

1791

The "Observer," Britain's oldest Sunday newspaper, was first published.

1808

Napoleon abolished the Inquisition in Spain.

1816

James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States.

1829

Under British rule, suttee (whereby a widow commits suicide by joining her husband's funeral pyre) was made illegal in India.

1872

U.S. brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift and deserted with its cargo intact, in the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and Portugal.

1875

William Marcy Tweed, the ''Boss'' of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled the country.

1906

Alpha Phi Alpha, the first national college fraternity for African-American men, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

1918

President Woodrow Wilson departed Washington, D.C., for Versailles on the first European trip by a U.S. president. He headed the American delegation to the peace conference seeking an official end to World War I.

1942

President Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.

1942

U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War II.

1945

The Senate approved United States participation in the United Nations.

1947

Tennessee William's play "A Streetcar Named Desire" premiered on Broadway, starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy.

1952

The Grumman XS2F-1 Tracker made its first flight.

1965

The U.S. launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Borman and Navy Commander James A. Lovell aboard.

1969

Fred Hampton, Illinois chairman of the Black Panthers, was shot and killed along with Mark Clark during an early morning police raid of the BPP's Illinois state headquarters in Chicago.

1971

At least 10 people die and 17 are injured after a bomb explodes in McGurk's Bar, a crowded Catholic pub in Belfast.

1978

Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco's first woman mayor when she was named to replace George Moscone, who had been murdered.

1980

The bodies of four American nuns slain in El Salvador two days earlier were unearthed. Five national guardsmen were later convicted of murder.

1991

Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, the longest held of Western hostages in Lebanon, was released by Hezbollah after 2,455 days (nearly seven years) in captivity.

1992

President Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia, threatening military action against warlords and gangs who were blocking food for starving millions.

1995

The first NATO troops landed in the Balkans to begin setting up a peace mission.

1996

Mars Pathfinder lifted off from Cape Canaveral and embarked on a successful 310 million-mile trip to explore the Red Planet's surface.

1997

The NBA suspended all-star Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors for one year for choking and threatening to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. An arbitrator later reduced the suspension and reinstated Sprewell to the team, which had terminated his c

1998

The first international space station, named Unity, was launched.

2000

In a pair of legal setbacks for Al Gore, a Florida state judge refused to overturn George W. Bush's certified victory in Florida and the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a ruling that had allowed manual recounts.

2001

The United States froze the financial assets of organizations allegedly linked to the terrorist group Hamas ("Islamic Resistance Movement").

1795

Thomas Carlyle, Scottish writer, historian, and essayist.

1849

Crazy Horse, Native American Indian chief.

1861

Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard), American singer, actress.

1866

Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter.

1875

Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet.

1892

Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator.

1934

Wink Martindale, American TV host.

1993

Rock musician and composer Frank Zappa died in Los Angeles at age 52