EVENTS
- 1659 – The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed, ending the Franco-Spanish war of 1648-59.
- 1665 – ‘The London Gazette’, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
- 1811 – General William H. Harrison led 1,000 Americans in battle, defeating the Shawnee Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe Creek near Lafayette, Indiana.
- 1837 – A pro-slavery mob attacked and killed American abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy at his printing works in Alton, Illinois.
- 1869 – First inter-city cycle race. The first city to city cycle race was held between Paris and Rouen. James Moore, an Englishman living in Paris at that time won the race.
- 1885 – Canada’s first transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific, was completed in British Columbia.
- 1916 – First woman to be elected to US Congress. Jeannette Rankin from Montana became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
- 1917 – October Revolution. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, took over the winter palace and ended the rule of the post-Tsarist provisional government and transferred all powers to the communists in Russia
- 1917 – Russian Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky in Petrograd. The Council of People’s Commissars was then established as the new government of Russia, with Nikolai Lenin as chairman, Leon Trotsky as foreign commissar and Josef Stalin as commissar of nationalities. This event was celebrated each year in the former USSR with parades, massive military displays and public appearances by top Soviet leaders.
- 1929 – The Museum of Modern Art opens to the public in New York City.
- 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt wins re-election becoming the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
- 1947 – Coup in Thailand. The military staged a coup against Thawan Thamrong Nawasawat and installed Khuang Aphaiwong as Prime Minister.
- 1962 – Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt died at age 78.
- 1967 – Carl Stokes became the first African American mayor in the U.S., elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1987 – Coup in Tunisia. In a bloodless coup in Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali took over the Presidentship of Tunisia from President Habib Bourguiba.
- 1989 – The East German government resigned after pro-democracy protests.
- 1989 – L. Douglas Wilder became the first African-American governor in U.S. history, elected governor of Virginia.
- 1990 – Mary Robinson became Ireland’s first female president.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1867 – Madame Curie (Scientist)
- 1888 – C.V. Raman (Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1913 – Albert Camus (French author, journalist, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1918 – Billy Graham (Evangelist)
- 1942 – Johhny Rivers (Singer)
- 1943 – Joni Mitchell (Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist)
- 1952 – David Petraeus (American military officer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency)
- 1957 – Christopher Knight (TV’s Peter Brady)
- 1970 – Andy Houston (Nascar Driver)
- 1996 – Lorde (Singer)
DEATHS
- 644 – Umar Islamic caliph
- 1913 – Alfred Russel Wallace (Welsh/English geographer, biologist, explorer)
- 1962 – Eleanor Roosevelt (American politician, humanitarian, 34th First Lady of the United States)
- 1980 – Steve McQueen (American actor)
- 2011 – Joe Frazier (American boxer)