Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1719

Philip V of Spain declared war on France.

1768

Englishman Philip Astley staged the first modern circus, in London.

1788

Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1793

Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.

1799

British prime minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1839

French painter L. J. M. Daguerre announces to the French Academy of Arts and Science the first practical photographic process.

1861

Mississippi seceded from the Union.

1929

The Seeing Eye started in Nashville, Tennessee, to train guide dogs for the blind.

1945

During World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.

1951

The United Nations headquarters opened in New York City.

1957

Sir Anthony Eden resigns as prime minister of Britain due to ill health after one year and 279 days in the post.

1964

Anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and three U.S. soldiers.

1968

The Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

1969

Joe Namath "guarantees" the Super Bowl III win for the New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts, 16-7.

1972

Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purported biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.

1972

In Hong Kong harbor, the Queen Elizabeth passenger line was destroyed by fire.

1980

Saudi Arabia beheaded 63 people for their involvement in the November 1979 raid on the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

1987

The White House released a memorandum prepared for President Ronald Reagan in January 1986 that showed a definite link between U.S. arms sales to Iran and the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

1997

A Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

2005

Early indications in the Palestinian presidential elections show former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas set to win.

1890

Karel Capek, Czech writer and playwright.

1908

Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and critic.

1913

Richard Milhous Nixon, born in Yorba Linda, California. The 37th president of the United States and the only president to have resigned from office.

1914

Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), American actress, dancer, stripper.

1925

Lee Van Cleef, actor.

1941

Joan Baez, American folksinger.

1944

Jimmy Page, rock guitarist.

1873

Napoleon III, French emperor.