EVENTS
- 1850 – American Express is founded.
- 1892 – Lord Stanley of Preston pledges to donate a challenge cup for the best ice hockey team in Canada. Today, the Stanley Cup is the world’s most prestigious ice hockey trophy.
- 1909 – First ham radio broadcast.
- 1962 – The Évian Accords are signed, ending the Algerian War. Algeria gained its independence from France as a consequence.
Évian Accords - 1965 – Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space. During the tethered spacewalk, which lasted 12 minutes, Leonov ventured up to 10 meters from his spacecraft, Voskhod 2.
- 1965 – First person walks in space.
- 1971 – A 100 feet (30 meter) high wave destroys a Peruvian mining camp and kills hundreds of people. The tsunami was caused by a massive rock avalanche that crashed into Lake Yanahuani from a height of 1300 feet (400 meters).
- 1974 – The five-month-old Arab oil embargo against the U.S. was lifted. The embargo was in retaliation for American support of Israel during the Yom Kipper War of 1973 in which Egypt and Syria suffered a crushing defeat. In the U.S., the resulting embargo had caused long lines at gas stations as prices soared 300 percent amid shortages and a government ban on Sunday gas sales.
- 1990 – East Germany holds its first and only free parliamentary elections. The election was held between the peaceful revolution leading to the demise of the German Democratic Republic in 1989 and the German reunification in 1990.
- 1992 – Microsoft ships Windows 3.1.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1837 – Grover Cleveland (US President 22 and 24)
- 1844 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian composer)
- 1869 – Neville Chamberlain (English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1932 – John Updike (American author, poet, critic)
- 1959 – Irene Cara (Actress and Singer)
- 1963 – Vanessa Williams (Actress and Singer)
Vanessa Williams - 1964 – Bonnie Blair (Olympic speed skater)
- 1970 – Queen Latifah (Singer and Actress)
- 1979 – Adam Levine (Singer for Maroon 5)
- 1981 – Fabian Cancellara (Swiss cyclist)
DEATHS
- 978 – Edward the Martyr (English king)
- 1314 – Jacques de Molay (Frankish knight)
- 1745 – Robert Walpole (English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
Robert Walpole - 1913 – George I of Greece
- 1936 – Eleftherios Venizelos (Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece)
