Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1639

The first constitution in the American colonies, the "Fundamental Orders" of Connecticut, was adopted.

1784

The United States and England ratified the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1794

Dr. Jesse Bennett of Virginia performed the first successful Caesarean section; the patient was his wife.

1858

French emperor Napoleon III escaped an attempt on his life.

1900

The Puccini opera "Tosca" received a mixed reception at its Rome world premiere.

1914

Henry Ford started his first manufacturing assembly line.

1942

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all aliens in the United States to register with the government.

1943

President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.

1952

NBC's "Today" show premiered on TV

1953

Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country's Parliament. Below, Tito is shown in March 1956.

1954

Baseball great Joe Dimaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe were married at San Francisco City Hall.

1963

George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever."

1969

An explosion ripped through the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise off Hawaii, killing 25 crew members.

1970

Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

1972

Comedian Redd Fox stars in the premiere of Sanford and Son on NBC.

1973

The Miami Dolphins become the first professional football team to go undefeated for the season. They go on to win Super Bowl VII.

1980

Gold reached a new record price of more than $800 an ounce.

1993

TV talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS.

1994

In post-Cold War breakthroughs, President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed Kremlin accords to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.

1998

Whitewater prosecutors questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House for 10 minutes about the gathering of FBI background files on past Republican political appointees. Sources quoted Mrs. Clinton as saying she knew nothing about any such collectio

1998

NBC agreed to pay Warner Bros. a record $13 million per episode to retain the top-rated TV show, "ER."

2000

A U.N. tribunal sentenced five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993massacre of at least 103 Muslims in a Bosnian village.

1741

Benedict Arnold, turncoat American general in the American Revolutionary War.

1806

Matthew Fontaine Maury, oceanographer.

1875

Albert Schweitzer, German philosopher, musician, physician, humanitarian, winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

1892

Hal Roach, American producer, writer, and director.

1904

Cecil Beaton, British photographer and stage designer.

1919

Andy Rooney, American writer, columnist, commentator.

1940

Julian Bond, civil rights activist and politician.

1941

Faye Dunaway, American Academy Award-winning actress.

1742

English astronomer Edmond Halley, who observed the comet that now bears his name, died at age 85.