Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1377

The Papal See was transferred from Avignon in France back to Rome.

1562

French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.

1773

Captain Cook's ship Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.

1819

Simon Bolivar the "Liberator" proclaims Columbia a republic.

1871

San Franciscan Andrew Smith Hallidie patented the first cable car.

1893

Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.

1916

The Professional Golfers' Association of America was founded.

1945

Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.

1945

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody

1946

The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.

1959

Senegal and the French Sudan joined to form the Federal State of Mali.

1961

In his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."

1962

Chubby Checker tops the charts with "The Twist."

1977

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

1991

Iraq launches seven SCUD missiles into Israel and Saudi Arabia after coalition forces began massive air strikes.

1994

A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion worth of damage.

1995

More than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

1997

A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

1997

Israel handed over its military headquarters in Hebron to the Palestinians, ending 30 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank city.

1999

United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan recommends that the UN pull its peacekeeping forces out of Angola as civil war resumes.

2000

British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC agreed to a merger that would create the world's largest drugmaker.

1706

Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, printer, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, founder of the University of Pennsylvania, was born in Boston.

1860

Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright, short story writer.

1880

Mack Sennett, motion-picture producer and director.

1899

Notorious American gangster Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1942

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), American boxer, heavyweight champ.

1948

Mick Taylor, musician.

1962

Jim Carrey, American actor, comedian.

1893

Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, died in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.

2007

Art Buchwald, American Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist.