Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1800

Spain ceded Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.

1896

The U.S. Post Office established Rural Free Delivery, with the first routes in West Virginia.

1936

General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of an insurgent Spanish state.

1949

Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China during a ceremony in Beijing.

1961

Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927.

1962

Johnny Carson succeeded Jack Paar as regular host of NBC's Tonight show.

1964

The Free Speech Movement was launched at the University of California at Berkeley.

1971

Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Fla.

1986

Former President Jimmy Carter's presidential library and museum were dedicated in Atlanta.

1989

Thousands of East Germans received a triumphal welcome in West Germany after the communist government agreed to let them flee to the West.

1991

President Bush strongly condemned the military coup in Haiti, suspending U.S. economic and military aid and demanding the immediate return to power of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1994

National Hockey League team owners began a 103-day lockout of their players.

1996

A federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in 1994 mail bomb slaying of an ad executive.

2025

Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall DBE was an English primatologist and anthropologist. Regarded as a pioneer in primate ethology, she was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees.