EVENTS
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba.
- 1636 – Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in America, was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was named after John Harvard, a Puritan who donated his library and half of his estate. Distinguished alumni include; Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, and NAACP founder W.E.B. Du Bois.
- 1846 – The Donner Party departed Illinois heading for California. The group totaled 90 persons, including immigrants, families and businessmen, led by George and Jacob Donner. Tragedy later struck as they became stranded in snow in the Sierras where famine and cannibalism took its toll. There were 48 survivors by the end of their journey in April of 1847.
- 1868 – Thomas Edison applied for his first patent, the electric vote recorder
- 1886 – The Statue of Liberty is dedicated in New York Harbor.
- 1918 – The Republic of Czechoslovakia was founded, assembled from three provinces – Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia – which had been part of the former Austro-Hungarian empire.
- 1918 – In the waning days of World War I, mutiny broke out in the German fleet at Kiel. Ships in port ran up the red flag of revolution. The uprising spread to Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck, resulting in a general strike in Berlin which brought the government of Kaiser Wilhelm to a halt.
- 1919 – Prohibition began in the U.S. with the passage of the National Prohibition (Volstead) Act by Congress. Sales of drinks containing more than one half of one percent of alcohol became illegal. Called a “noble experiment” by Herbert Hoover, prohibition last nearly 14 years and became highly profitable for organized crime which manufactured and sold liquor in saloons called speakeasies.
- 1922 – Fascist blackshirts began their “March on Rome” from Naples which resulted in the formation of a dictatorship under Benito Mussolini.
- 1938 – Germany expels Polish jews. Germany expelled about 17,000 Polish Jews and sent them to Poland which refused to take them in.
- 1949 – Helen Anderson became the first woman ambassador, appointed by President Harry Truman to be Ambassador to Denmark.
- 1958 – Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Patriarch of Venice, was elected Pope, taking the title John XXIII. Best known for undertaking the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II).
- 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ended with the announcement by Soviet Russia’s leader Nikita Khrushchev that his Soviet government was halting construction of missile bases in Cuba and would remove the offensive missiles. President Kennedy immediately accepted the offer then lifted the U.S. naval blockade of Cuba.
- 1965 – The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri is completed.
- 1971 – The British House of Commons voted 356-244 in favor of joining the European Economic Community.
- 1995 – Fire breaks out between two metro stations in Baku. Thought to be one of the deadliest subway disasters in history, the fire started as a result of old and faulty wiring. Over 300 people traveling in a train between Ulduz and Narimanov stations in Azerbaijan’s capital city were killed as smoke filled the subway tunnels.
- 2007 – Argentina elects its first female president. Former First Lady of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, won the elections with over 45% of all votes cast. She was re-elected to office again in 2011, this time with over 50% of the votes cast. Kirchner was not the first woman to serve as Argentina’s president, but she was the first one to be elected. Isabel Martínez de Perón served as the country’s head of state after her husband, President Juan Perón, died in office. When she was sworn in to replace her husband on July 1, 1974, she then became the first woman to be a president of any country to date.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1017 – Henry III (Holy Roman Emperor)
- 1914 – Jonas Salk (Polio vaccine)
- 1949 – Bruce Jenner (Gold Medal in Olympic decathlon)
- 1955 – Bill Gates (Microsoft Founder)1956 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran)
- 1967 – Julia Roberts (Actress)
- 1974 – Joaquin Phoenix (American actor)
- 1972 – Terrell Davis (Football Player)
DEATHS
- 1704 – John Locke (English philosopher, physician)
- 1708 – Prince George of Denmark.
- 1900 – Friedrich Max Müller (German philologist, orientalist)
- 1929 – Bernhard von Bülow (German politician, Chancellor of Germany)
- 1998 – Ted Hughes (English poet)