EVENTS
- 1640 – A nationalist revolution in Portugal led to independence from Spain as the Spanish garrisons were driven out of Portugal.
- 1822 – Dom Pedro, founder of the Brazilian Empire, was crowned as the first emperor of Brazil.
- 1835 – Hans Christian Andersen publishes first book of fairy tales
- 1885 – The soft drink Dr Pepper is served for the first time.
- 1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
- 1918 – Iceland was granted independence by the Danish parliament.
- 1919 – Lady Nancy Astor became the first woman in the British House of Commons.
- 1925 – The Locarno Treaties were signed by France, Belgium and Germany, as a preventitive measure to avoid another war, in the aftermath of World War I. Terms of the Locarno Pact were guaranteed by Britain and Italy.
- 1941 – The American Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a U.S. Air Force auxiliary, was founded as Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, signed the formal order. The CAP currently provides aerospace education, a CAP cadet program, and emergency services such as locating missing aircraft.
- 1942 – The Beveridge Report was published in Britain envisioning the welfare state including insurance for the entire population.
- 1943 – Tehran Conference ends. The Tehran Conference between the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union ended with the three countries deciding to open up a second front against Germany in France, and the Soviet Union agreeing to declare war against Japan.
- 1955 – The birth of the modern American civil rights movement occurred as Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back section of a municipal bus. Her arrest resulted in a year-long boycott of the city bus system by African Americans and led to legal actions ending racial segregation on municipal buses throughout the South.
- 1958 – French colony of Ubangi-Shari gains autonomy. The French colony of Ubangi-Shari, now known as the Central African Republic, gained autonomy from France. 2 years later, the country became independent and adopted its current name.
- 1988 – Benazir Bhutto was nominated to become prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to govern a Muslim nation.
- 1989 – Mikhail Gorbachev became the first Soviet Russian leader to visit the Vatican and meet the Pope, thus ending 72 years of strict atheist policy in Communist Russia.
- 1990 – England was connected to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age as engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel broke through the last rock layer.
- 1994 – The head of the U.N. Commission on Rwanda estimated 500,000 deaths had resulted from genocide.
- 2004 – Tom Brokaw anchors his last broadcast of NBC Nightly News.
- 2009 – Treaty of Lisbon comes into force. The Treaty of Lisbon, which amended the two treaties – the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome – that form the constitutional basis of the European Union came into force after being signed by 13 countries in 2007.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1081 – Louis V (King of France)
- 1896 – Georgy Zhukov (Russian general
- 1933 – Lou Rawls (Singer)
- 1935 – Woody Allen (Movie director)
- 1939 – Lee Trevino (Golfer)
- 1940 – Richard Pryor (Comedian)
- 1945 – Bette Midler (Actress)
- 1949 – Pablo Escobar (Colombian drug lord)
- 1970 – Sarah Silverman (American comedian, actress, singer)
- 1986 – DeSean Jackson (NFL Football player)
DEATHS
- 1135 – Henry I of England
- 1825 – Alexander I of Russia
- 1947 – Aleister Crowley (English magician, author)
- 1973 – David Ben-Gurion (Israeli politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel)
- 2012 – Mitchell Cole (English footballer)