1469 Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici (died), Italian ruler (born 1416)
1515 Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (died), Spanish general (born 1453)
1547 Hernán Cortés (died), Spanish explorer (born 1485)
1594 Gerardus Mercator (died), Flemish cartographer (born 1512)
1697 St Paul’s Cathedral is opened in London.
1804 At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
1814 Marquis de Sade (died), French politician and philosopher (born 1740)
1851 French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
1852 Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French (Napoleon III).
1859 Militant abolitionist leader John Brown (born 1800) is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper’s Ferry.
1867 At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
1892 Jay Gould (died), American financier (born 1836)
1923 Maria Callas (born), Greek soprano (died 1977)
1924 Alexander Haig (born), American general and diplomat, 59th United States Secretary of State (died 2010)
1925 Julie Harris (born), American actress
1927 Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
1930 US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 M public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
1936 John Ringling (died), American businessman, co-founded Ringling Brothers Circus (born 1866)
1939 New York City’s La Guardia Airport opens.
1942 During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
1946 Gianni Versace (died), Italian fashion designer, founded Versace (died 1997)
1954 The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute”.
1961 In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
1970 The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
1971 Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
1974 Max Weber (died), Swiss politician (born 1897)
1976 Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
1982 At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
1986 Desi Arnaz (died), Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (born 1917)
1986 Lee Dorsey (died), American singer (born 1924)
1988 Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
1990 Aaron Copland (died), American composer and conductor (born 1900)
1993 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín (born 1949).
1993 Space Shuttle program: STS-61 – NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
2001 Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
EO Smith
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