Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1664

New Jersey became a British colony as King Charles II granted land in the New World to his brother James, the Duke of York.

1912

In Savannah, Ga., Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.

1930

Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.

1933

President Roosevelt delivered the first of his radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.

1938

The "Anschluss" took place as German troops entered Austria, completing what Adolf Hitler described as his mission to restore his homeland to the Third Reich.

1939

Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.

1940

Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during World War II. Fighting between the two countries flared again the following year.

1947

President Truman established what became known as the Truman Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

1969

Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.

1980

A Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in 1994.) Illinois state's attorney Bernard Carey

1987

"Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.

1993

Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general.

1994

The Church of England ordained its first female priests.

1997

Authorities in Los Angeles arrested Mikail Markhasev as a suspect in the shooting death of Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis, almost two months earlier. Markhasev was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1998

Astronomers debunked a warning that a mile-wide asteroid might collide with Earth on Oct. 26, 2028, saying the calculations were off by 600,000 miles.

1999

The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in a ceremony at Independence, Mo.

2000

In an unprecedented move, Pope John Paul II asked God's forgiveness for the sins of Roman Catholics through the ages, including wrongs inflicted on Jews, women and minorities.

1925

Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died.

1999

Violinist Yehudi Menuhin died in Berlin at age 82.