Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1766

James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London.

1776

The first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

1792

George Washington was re-elected president and John Adams was re-elected vice president.

1831

Former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

1848

President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

1876

President Ulysses S. Grant apologized to Congress for mistakes he claimed he had made during his presidency.

1933

National Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

1933

German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.

1950

Chinese forces fighting for their Korean comrades enter the North Korean capital and push United Nations troops back south.

1952

"The Abbott and Costello Show" premiered on TV.

1955

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.

1956

Under pressure from the United States and the United Nations, British and French forces occupying the Suez Canal in Egypt began their withdrawal from Egypt.

1977

President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt breaks all relations with hardline nations Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen.

1988

The Reverend Jim Bakker, a popular television evangelist and founder of the PTL organization, was indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

1994

Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

1995

Sri Lankan troops drive the Tamil Tiger guerrillas out of their heartland capital of Jaffna after a 49-day operation.

1996

U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated Madeleine Albright as secretary of state; she would become the highest-ranking woman ever in the federal government.

1782

The first native U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y.

1839

George Custer, American cavalry officer.

1890

Fritz Lang, Austrian-American motion picture director.

1894

Phillip Wrigley, American gum executive.

1901

Walt Disney, cartoonist, American movie producer, creator of Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, Walt Disney World was born in Chicago.

1906

Otto Preminger, Viennese-born film director.

1934

Joan Didion, American essayist and novelist.

1935

Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman), American singer, composer, rock and roll pioneer.

1791

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.

1926

Claude Monet, French painter and leader of the Impressionist Art movement.

1998

Former U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr., father of the vice president, died at his home in Carthage, Tenn.; he was 90.

1999

Joseph Heller, American satirist probably best remembered for writing the satiric World War II classic "Catch-22."