Today:
657 – Battle of Siffin began between the forces of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Mu’awiya I during the First Fitna.
1788 – New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1847 – Liberia declared its independence from the United States, becoming Africa’s first modern republic governed by formerly enslaved people.
1908 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (then called the Bureau of Investigation) was established by the U.S. Department of Justice.
1945 – Potsdam Declaration was issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, calling on Japan to surrender unconditionally during World War II.
1947 – Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, creating the United States Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
1953 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro led the unsuccessful Attack on the Moncada Barracks, an event that became the symbolic beginning of the Cuban Revolution.
1963 – Skopje earthquake of 1963 devastated the city of Skopje in present-day North Macedonia, killing more than 1,000 people.
1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law by George H. W. Bush, becoming landmark civil rights legislation.
2016 – The Solar Impulse aircraft completed the first round-the-world flight powered entirely by solar energy, landing in Abu Dhabi after a journey of more than 40,000 kilometers.