Today:
1704: During the War of the Spanish Succession, Gibraltar is captured by Britain after Spain surrenders.
1790: The Revenue Cutter Service, the predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard, is established by Alexander Hamilton.
1821: The weekly newspaper, “The Saturday Evening Post,” is published for the first time.
1892: Andrew and Abby Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home, leading to the infamous Lizzie Borden trial.
1901: Jazz legend Louis Armstrong is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1914: Great Britain declares war on Germany, marking its entry into World War I. The United States proclaims its neutrality.
1936: American Jesse Owens wins gold in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, defying Adolf Hitler’s notions of Aryan supremacy.
1944: Anne Frank and seven other people hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam are discovered and arrested by the Gestapo.
1964: The bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, who had been missing since June, are found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.
1977: U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.