- 1565: Spaniard Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the first
                       American Catholic settlement at St. Augustine, Fla.
                     - 1664: The settlement of New Amsterdam (New York) was seized from
                       Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant by the English.
                     - 1755: In the Seven Years War in which the Indians struggled against
                       the French for control of North America, Col. William Johnson with
                       his English militia defeated a French and Indian force in the
                       Battle of Lake George.
                     - 1847: Americans under Gen. Winfield Scott defeated the Mexicans at
                       the Battle of Molino del Rey in the Mexican War.
                     - 1883: The Northern Pacific Railroad across the U.S. was completed.
                     - 1900: A hurricane with winds of 120 mph and a huge tidal wave at
                       Galveston, Texas, killed at least 8,000 people and destroyed over
                       2,500 buildings in the city.
                     - 1926: The League of Nations Assembly voted unanimously to admit
                       Germany as a member.
                     - 1930: Richard Drew created Scotch tape.
                     - 1935: Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long was shot while attending a
                       session of the state House of Representatives in Baton Rouge; he
                       died two days later.
                     - 1941: The blockade of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) began as the
                       German army encircled the city, cutting it off from the rest of the
                       country. The siege lasted until January 1944 with a cost of almost
                       1 million civilians.
                     - 1943: Gen. Eisenhower announced the unconditional surrender of
                       Italy in World War II.
                     - 1945: Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during most of World War
                       II, attempted suicide rather than face a war crimes tribunal; the
                       attempt failed, and he was later found guilty and hanged.
                     - 1951: A peace treaty was signed in San Francisco with Japan and
                       representatives of 49 other nations.
                     - 1968: Saundra Williams won the first Miss Black America pageant.
                     - 1974: President Ford granted Richard Nixon an unconditional pardon
                       for all federal crimes he may have committed while he was in office.

                     *Happy Birthday*
                     ----------------
                     - Frankie Avalon, 59, actor, "Grease"
                     - Sid Caesar, 76, actor/comedian, "Your Show of Shows"
                     - Lyndon LaRouche Jr., 76, political activist, ultra Conservative
                     - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, 17, actor/cartoon voicist, "Home
                       Improvement," voice of "The Lion King's" Simba