Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1783

Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.

1801

John Marshall was sworn in as chief justice of the United States.

1861

Delegates from six southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

1932

New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid.

1938

The Thornton Wilder play "Our Town" opened on Broadway.

1941

The United Service Organizations (USO) came into existence.

1945

President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

1948

The island nation of Ceylon - now Sri Lanka - became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

1974

Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

1976

An earthquake struck Guatemala and Honduras, killing more than 22,000 people.

1997

A civil jury in Santa Monica, Calif., found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

1998

An estimated 5,000 people were killed when an earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan with a magnitude of 6.1.

1999

During President Clinton's impeachment trial, senators voted to permit the showing of portions of Monica Lewinsky's videotaped deposition

1999

Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was shot and killed in front of his Bronx home by four plainclothes New York City police officers during a nighttime search for a rape suspect.

2000

Austrian President Thomas Klestil swore in a coalition government that included Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party, a development which triggered European Union sanctions.

1983

Singer Karen Carpenter died at age 32.

1987

Pianist Liberace died at age 67. Liberace's publicist Denise Collier