Today:
1779: During the American Revolution, John Paul Jones said his famous line, “I have not yet begun to fight!,” during a naval battle against the British.
1806: The Lewis and Clark Expedition returned to St. Louis, Missouri, after successfully exploring the Louisiana Territory and reaching the Pacific Ocean.
1846: The planet Neptune was first observed by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle, confirming the mathematical predictions of Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams.
1889: Nintendo, the Japanese video game company, was founded as a playing card company in Kyoto by Fusajiro Yamauchi.
1932: The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd were united to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud.
1952: Richard Nixon, then a vice presidential candidate, delivered his “Checkers speech” to defend himself against allegations of financial impropriety.
1962: “The Jetsons,” a futuristic animated sitcom, premiered on television.
1973: Juan Perón was re-elected as president of Argentina after having been in exile.
1991: Armenia formally declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
2008: A student at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Finland shot and killed ten people before taking his own life.