| On this date in: |
| 1556 | St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers, died in Rome. |
| 1777 | The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. |
| 1875 | Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66. |
| 1914 | The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading didn't resume until December.) |
| 1919 | Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted. |
| 1948 | President Harry S. Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field. |
| 1953 | Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," died at age 63. |
| 1964 | The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface. |
| 1972 | Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment. |
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| 1977 | The "Son of Sam" killer claimed his last victims when he shot and killed Stacy Moskowitz, 20, and seriously wounded her date as they sat in a parked car in Brooklyn, N.Y. (David Berkowitz was arrested less than two weeks later. He is serving six sentences of 25 years to life.) |
| 1981 | A seven-week strike by major league baseball players ended. |
| 1989 | A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape purportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins. |
| 1990 | Nolan Ryan became the 20th major league pitcher to win 300 games as his Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3. |
| 1995 | The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal. |
| 1997 | New York City police seized five bombs believed bound for terrorist attacks on subways. |
| 2002 | A bomb exploded inside a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine people, including five Americans. |
| 2007 | The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region. |
| 2008 | Scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil. |
