Today:
1775: The department that would later become the United States Post Office is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin is appointed as the first Postmaster General.
1788: New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1847: Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves, declares its independence, becoming the first democratic republic in Africa.
1908: The Office of the Chief Examiner, the predecessor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is created by the U.S. Department of Justice.
1945: The Potsdam Declaration is signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, detailing the terms for Japan’s surrender in World War II.
1947: President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act, creating the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
1948: President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which officially desegregates the United States Armed Forces.
1953: Fidel Castro begins his revolutionary “26th of July Movement” with an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks in Cuba. This event is widely considered the beginning of the Cuban Revolution.
1956: Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the British and French-owned Suez Canal, sparking the Suez Crisis.
1990: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, prohibiting discrimination based on disability.