Today:
1492 – Christopher Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, on his first voyage across the Atlantic with the ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa María.
1778 – The Opening of La Scala took place in Milan, inaugurating one of the world’s most famous opera houses, La Scala.
1914 – Germany declared war on France, further expanding World War I.
1923 – Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th President of the United States following the death of Warren G. Harding. He took the oath of office from his father, a notary public, by lamplight at the family home in Vermont.
1936 – Jesse Owens won the 100-meter race at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, earning the first of his four gold medals.
1949 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed through the merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.
1958 – The USS Nautilus (SSN-571) became the first submarine to travel beneath the North Pole.
1981 – Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike in the United States. The dispute led to President Ronald Reagan firing more than 11,000 federal air traffic controllers.
2004 – The Statue of Liberty Reopening took place after the monument had been closed since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was inaugurated as President of Iran, beginning his first presidential term.