What Happened On This Day In History?

1789

New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights, approving 10 of the 12 amendments.

1818

Simón Bolívar, declared Venezuela independent of Spain.

1820

The whaler Essex, from Nantucket, Massachusetts, was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale near the western coast of South America. It was the first American vessel sunk by a whale.

1866

Howard University, the first university for African-American students, is founded in Washington, D.C., as the Howard Theological Seminary.

1910

Revolution broke out in Mexico, led by Francisco I. Madero.

1914

Bulgaria proclaimed its neutrality in World War I.

1917

British military tanks penetrate German lines in the Battle of Cambrai in northeastern France. It is the first large-scale use of tanks.

1945

Twenty-four Nazi leaders went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.

1947

Britain's future queen, Princess Elizabeth II, married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in a ceremony broadcast worldwide from Westminster Abbey.

1967

U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announces the formation of the National Commission on Product Safety.

1967

The U.S. census reported the population at 200 million.

1969

The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase-out.

1974

The United States filed an antitrust suit to break up AT&T.

1977

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.

1980

In China, Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong's widow, went on trial on charges of treason and government subversion.

1995

Princess Diana admitted during an interview broadcast on BBC television that she had been unfaithful to Prince Charles.

2000

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori resigned, ending a 10-year reign.

1620

Peregrine White is born aboard the Mayflower, anchored near the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. She is the first child ever born of English parents in New England.

1752

Thomas Chatterton, English poet

1858

Selma Lagerlof, Swedish author, first woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature.

1866

Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's first commissioner

1889

Edwin Powell Hubble, American astronomer.

1908

Sir Alistair Cooke, English journalist and TV host.

1914

Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer and statesman

1923

Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist.

1925

Robert F. Kennedy, American senator, attorney general, and presidential candidate was born in Brookline, Mass.

1954

Bo Derek, American film actress and model.

1910

Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist.

1973

Allan Sherman, American musician, parodist, satirist, and television producer.

1975

After nearly four decades of absolute rule, Spain's Gen. Francisco Franco died, two weeks before his 83rd birthday.