Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1721

The Peace of Nystad ended the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia, giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region.

1781

The French fleet arrived in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution

1813

Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims, Alabama.

1860

The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train.

1861

Union General John Fremont declared martial law throughout Missouri and made his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overruled the general.

1862

Union forces were defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Va.

1892

The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.

1905

Ty Cobb made his major league batting debut, playing for the Detroit Tigers.

1932

Nazi leader Hermann Goering was elected president of the Reichstag.

1944

Ploesti, the center of the Romanian oil industry, fell to Soviet troops.

1945

Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan and set up Allied occupation headquarters.

1961

President John F. Kennedy appointed General Lucius D. Clay as his personal representative in Berlin.

1963

The hot-line communications link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow went into operation.

1967

The U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1976

Tom Brokaw becomes the news anchor of the Today Show.

1979

Hurricane David devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica as it began a rampage through the Caribbean and up the eastern seaboard of the United States that claimed some 1,100 lives.

1979

The first recorded instance of a comet (Howard-Koomur-Michels) hitting the sun; the energy released is equal to approximately 1 million hydrogen bombs.

1982

Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is forced out of Lebanon after 10 years in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.

1983

Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first black American astronaut to travel in space, blasting off aboard the Challenger.

1983

The Eiffel Tower welcomed its 150 millionth visitor, 33-year-old Parisian Jacqueline Martinez

1986

The KGB arrested journalist Nicholas Daniloff (US News World Report) on a charge of spying and held him for 13 days.

1989

A federal jury in New York found ''hotel queen'' Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax evasion but acquitted her of extortion. (Helmsley served 18 months behind bars, a month at a halfway house and two months under house arrest.)

1990

President Bush told a news conference that a ''new world order'' could emerge from the Gulf crisis.

1999

Residents of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored ballot.

2023

After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousted him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.

1797

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of ''Frankenstein,'' was born in London.

1871

Ernest Rutherford, physicist who discovered and named alpha, beta and gamma radiation and was the first to achieve a man-made nuclear reaction.

1893

Huey P. Long, ''The Kingfish'' of Louisiana politics, was born in Winn Parish, La.

1893

Huey P. Long, Louisiana politician who served as governor and U.S. senator, known as "The Kingfish."

1918

Ted Williams, Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, the last man to hit .400 in a season.

1919

Kitty Wells (born Ellen Muriel Deason), first female singer to top the Country Music charts in US ("It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels", 1952).

1930

Warren Buffett, business magnate; listed as the world's wealthiest person in 2008.

1931

Carrie Saxon Perry, first black mayor of a major US city (Hartford CT).

1943

Robert Crumb (R. Crumb), satiric "underground" cartoonist (Fritz the Cat), musician.

1944

Molly Ivins, American political humorist, newspaper columnist.

1956

Jayne Irving, TV broadcaster (Good Morning Brit

1958

Anna Politkovskaya (Anna Mazepa), New York-born Ukrainian journalist, writer, human rights advocate best known for her reporting from Chechnya.

1960

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese political-paramilitary group Hezbollah since 1992.

1960

US Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon. He received posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia.

1964

Gavin Fisher, mechanical engineer; chief designer of the Williams Formula One racing team (1997–2005).

1972

Cameron Diaz, model, award-winning actress (The Mask, There's Something About Mary, Any Given Sunday).