Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1665

England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

1775

The first Naval Battle of the American Revolution was fought in Maine on the Machias Bay. Against all odds, the Margaretta surrendered to the Americans giving the patriots their first victory.

1776

Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

1838

The Iowa Territory was organized.

1898

Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

1937

The Soviet Union executed eight army leaders as a purge under Josef Stalin continued.

1939

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y., on the 100th anniversary of the day Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the sport. Babe Ruth speaks at the dedication

1963

Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss. The killer would later be sentenced to life in prison in 1994 after two trials in the 1960s had resulted in hung juries

1967

The Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

1971

Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

1978

David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six ''Son of Sam'' .44-caliber killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

1987

President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

1994

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slashed to death outside her Los Angeles home; O.J. Simpson was later acquitted of the killings in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil action.

1996

Senate Republicans overwhelmingly chose Trent Lott to succeed Bob Dole as majority leader.

1997

Interleague play began in baseball, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series.

1997

The Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

1998

A jury in Hattiesburg, Miss., convicted 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School.

1999

Thousands of NATO peacekeeping troops poured into Kosovo by air and by land; but in a surprising move, a Russian armored column entered Pristina before dawn to a hero's welcome from Serb residents.

2016

49 people were killed and 53 injured when a gunman opened fire at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

2018

President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un met at a historic summit in Singapore, the first time that leaders from the United States and North Korea had ever met.