Today:
1087: William II is crowned King of England.
1580: Sir Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, after completing his circumnavigation of the globe.
1777: British troops occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolutionary War.
1789: Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State.
1914: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established in the United States.
1957: The musical “West Side Story” opens on Broadway.
1960: The first televised presidential debate in U.S. history occurs between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1969: The Beatles release their album “Abbey Road” in the United Kingdom.
1983: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet military officer, correctly identifies a Soviet nuclear early-warning system’s report of an incoming U.S. missile strike as a false alarm, preventing a potential nuclear war.
1984: The United Kingdom and China agree to the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which sets the conditions for the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China in 1997.