Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1769

Edward Beran of London patented Venetian blinds.

1792

France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (He was convicted, and executed the following month.)

1816

Indiana became the 19th state.

1844

Nitrous oxide was first used in dentistry.

1872

America's first black governor took office as Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became acting governor of Louisiana.

1928

Police in Buenos Aires thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.

1929

The Empire State Building's design was announced.

1936

Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.

1937

Italy withdrew from the League of Nations.

1941

Germany and Italy announce they are at war with America which retaliates with its own declaration of war on "the forces of savagery and barbarism".

1946

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established.

1961

A U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon - the first direct American military support for South Vietnam's battle against Communist guerrillas.

1967

The Concorde, created by the British and French and the world's first supersonic airliner, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.

1975

An Icelandic gunboat opens fire on unarmed British fishery support vessels in the North Atlantic Sea.

1980

President Jimmy Carter signed into a law legislation creating a $1.6 billion environmental "Superfund" to pay for cleaning up chemical spills and toxic waste dumps.

1981

The U.N. Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru to be the fifth secretary-general of the world body.

1990

Ivana Trump was divorced from real estate mogul Donald Trump after 12 years of marriage.

1990

Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.

1991

A jury in West Palm Beach, Fla., acquitted William Kennedy Smith of sexual assault and battery.

1994

Thousands of Russian troops backed by armored columns and jets rolled into breakaway republic of Chechnya in a bid to restore Moscow's control over the region.

1997

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams became the first political ally of the IRA to meet a British leader in 76 years as he conferred with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

1997

More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth's greenhouse gases.

1998

Majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against President Clinton, over Democratic objections.

1998

Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-200 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.

2000

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments from lawyers representing George W.Bush and Al Gore concerning the Florida presidential vote recount.

2000

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez agreed to a $252 million deal with the TexasRangers, the most lucrative sports contract in history.

2001

U.S. prosecutors charged Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, with conspiring to murder thousands in the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.

2001

The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).

2005

Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales; these are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2006

Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican Drug War.

2007

Two car bombs explode in Algiers, Algeria, one near the Supreme Constitutional Court and the other near the offices of the United Nations.

2008

Bernard 'Bernie' Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

2012

At least 125 people are killed and up to 200 injured in bombings in the Alawite village of Aqrab, Syria.

2017

New York City attempted bombing: A pipe bomb partially detonates in the New York City Subway, in the Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal. Four people are injured, including the perpetrator.

1475

Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici), excommunicated Martin Luther, bestowed title of Defender of the Faith upon Henry VIII.

1803

Hector Berlioz, French composer.

1918

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, dissident Russian writer.

1944

Brenda Lee, a country-western signer and former teen idol.

1949

Teri Garr, American actress.

1513

Bernardino Pinturicchio, Italian Renaissance painter.

1996

Willy Rushton, English comedian.