1782 – The Spanish captured Minorca from the British.
1783 – Sweden recognized the independence of the United States.
1846 – “The Oregon Spectator”, based in Oregon City, became the first newspaper published on the Pacific coast.
1861 – Samuel Goodale patented the moving picture peep show machine.
1885 – Congo State was established under Leopold II of Belgium, as a personal possession.
1881 – Phoenix, AZ, was incorporated.
1917 – Mexico’s constitution was adopted.
1917 – The U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 (Asiatic Barred Zone Act) with an overwhelming majority. The action overrode President Woodrow Wilson’s December 14, 1916 veto.
1924 – The BBC time signals, or “pips”, from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time. They are broadcast every hour.
1931 – Maxine Dunlap became the first woman licensed as a glider pilot.
1937 – U.S. President Roosevelt proposed enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court. The plan failed.
1940 – “Amanda of Honeymoon Hill” debuted on radio.
1952 – In New York City, four signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square that told pedestrians “don’t walk.”
1953 – The Walt Disney’s film “Peter Pan” opened at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.
Disney movies, music and books
1958 – Gamel Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the United Arab Republic.
1961 – The first issue of the “Sunday Telegraph” was published.
1962 – French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria’s independence.
1972 – Bob Douglas became the first black man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
1982 – Great Britain imposed economic sanctions against Poland and Russia in protest against martial law in Poland.
1987 – The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 2,200-point for the first time. The market closed at 2201.49.
1988 – A pair of indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama’s military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.
1994 – White separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, MS, of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
1997 – Switzerland’s “Big Three” banks announced they would create a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.
1997 – Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.
2003 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence to the U.N. concerning Iraq’s material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441.
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