Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1066

William the Conqueror invaded England.

1542

Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

1781

American forces, backed by a French fleet, began the siege of Yorktown Heights, Va., during the Revolutionary War,

1787

Congress voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

1850

Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.

1924

Two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.

1939

During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.

1967

Walter Washington took office as the first mayor of the District of Columbia.

1972

Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1974

First lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, following discovery of a cancerous lump in her breast.

1995

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord to transfer much of the West Bank to the control of its Arab residents.

2000

Capping a 12-year battle, the government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.

2000

Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's hard-line opposition, sparked new Israeli-Palestinian clashes by touring the Temple Mount.

1989

Deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

1991

Jazz musician Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 65.

2000

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau died in Montreal at age 80.

2023

Dianne Feinstein was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988. (b. 1933)