Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1620

A determined band of 35 religious dissenters and Pilgrims set sail for Virginia from Plymouth, England in the <i>Mayflower</i>, jubilant at the prospect of practicing their unorthodox brand of worship in the New World.

1630

The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston.

1810

Mexicans began their revolt against Spanish rule.

1893

Hundreds of thousands of settlers swarmed onto a section of land in Oklahoma known as the ''Cherokee Strip.''

1919

The American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress.

1940

President Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

1966

The Metropolitan Opera opened its new opera house at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

1972

''The Bob Newhart Show'' premiered on CBS.

1974

President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

1982

The massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children by Lebanese Christian militiamen began in west Beirut's Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps.

1987

Two dozen countries signed the Montreal Protocol, a treaty designed to save the Earth's ozone layer by calling on nations to reduce emissions of harmful chemicals by the year 2000.

1990

The railroad between the People's Republic of China and Kazakhstan is completed at Dostyk, adding a sizable link to the concept of the Eurasian Land Bridge.

1992

The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega ends in the United States with a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.

1992

Black Wednesday: The British pound is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the German mark.

2004

Hurricane Ivan makes landfall in Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane.

2005

The Camorra organized crime boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples, Italy.

2007

One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 carrying 130 crew and passengers crashes in Thailand, killing 90 people.

2007

Security guards working for Blackwater Worldwide shoot and kill 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square, Baghdad.

2013

A gunman kills twelve people at the Washington Navy Yard.

2019

Five months before the COVID-19 stock market crash, an overnight spike in lending rates in the United States prompts the Federal Reserve to conduct operations in the repo market.

2022

During the Let Yet Kone massacre, the Burmese military kills 13 villagers, including 8 children, after attacking a school in Sagaing Region, Myanmar.

1638

France's King Louis XIV was born.

1893

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi was a Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle.

1977

Maria Callas, the American-born prima donna famed for her lyric soprano and fiery temperament, died in Paris at age 53.

1996

Former national security adviser McGeorge Bundy died in Boston at age 77.

2024

Billy Edd Wheeler, country music singer-songwriter who penned hits for stars like Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley and more, died at age 91. Best known as the co-writer of "Jackson", a duet made famous by Johnny Cash and June Carter. (b. 1932)

2025

Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer who won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and two Golden Globes. He first gained recognition for stage and television work, and delivered acclaimed film performances for over decades. (b. 1936)