Today:
1715: Sybilla Thomas Masters became the first American to be granted an English patent for a machine that cleaned and cured Indian corn.
1758: During the French and Indian War, the British captured Fort Duquesne at what is now Pittsburgh.
1783: The British evacuated New York City, their last military position in the U.S., marking the end of the Revolutionary War.
1867: Alfred Nobel patented dynamite.
1936: Nazi Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement directed against the Soviet Union.
1947: Movie studio executives in New York agreed to blacklist the “Hollywood 10,” who had been cited for contempt of Congress.
1952: Agatha Christie’s mystery play, “The Mousetrap,” opened in London; it would become the longest-running show in history.
1960: The three Mirabal sisters, activists opposing the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, were assassinated.
1963: The funeral of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy was held at Arlington National Cemetery.
1986: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announced that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan Contras, revealing the Iran-Contra affair.