EVENTS
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain.
- 1900 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded. The American tire company was founded by Harvey Samuel Firestone in Akron, Ohio. In 1988, the company was taken over by Japan’s Bridgestone Corporation.
- 1914 – Germany declares war against France in WWI.
- 1946 – World’s first theme park opens its doors in in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA. Santa Claus Land is now known as Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.
- 1946 – The NBA (National Basketball Association) is founded.
- 1958 – The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.
- 1960 – Niger gains its independence from France. The West African country became a French colony in the early 20th century. Hamani Diori became the first president of the country.
- 2005 – Coup in Mauritania. A military coup replaced long-time president Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall took over the transitional government until elections were held in 2005.
- 2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes office in Iran. An engineer and teacher by professional, Ahmadinejad became the 6th president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1811 – Elisha Otis (Elevator inventor and maker)
- 1867 – Stanley Baldwin (English politician)
- 1900 – War correspondent Ernie Pyle (1900-1945) was born in Dana, Indiana
- 1905 – Gray Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn (1905-1995) was born in Buffalo, New York
- 1926 – Tony Bennett (Singer)
- 1940 – Martin Sheen (Actor)
- 1941 – Martha Stewart (TV Host)
- 1977 – Tom Brady (Football Player)
- 1979 – Evangeline Lily (Actress)
- 1984 – Ryan Lochte (American swimmer)
DEATHS
- 1924 – Joseph Conrad (Polish/English author)
- 1929 – Thorstein Veblen (American economist, sociologist)
- 1995 – Ida Lupino (English actress, director)
- 2004 – Henri Cartier-Bresson (French photographer)
- 2008 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian soldie, author, Nobel Prize laureate)