Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1608

John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.

1813

Oliver H. Perry sent the message, ''We have met the enemy, and they are ours,'' after an American naval force defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.

1846

Elias Howe of Spencer, Mass., received a patent for his sewing machine.

1919

New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who had served in the United States 1st Division during World War I.

1939

Canada declared war on Germany during World War II.

1945

Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis.

1948

American-born Mildred Gillars, accused of being Nazi wartime radio broadcaster ''Axis Sally,'' was indicted in Washington, D.C. for treason. (She was later convicted and served 12 years in prison.)

1955

''Gunsmoke'' premiered on CBS.

1963

Twenty black students entered public schools in Birmingham, Tuskegee and Mobile, Ala., following a standoff between federal authorities and Gov. George C. Wallace, who resisted intergration.

1977

Convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant, became the last person to date to be executed by the guillotine in France.

1988

Steffi Graf of West Germany achieved tennis' first Grand Slam since Margaret Court in 1970 by winning the U.S. Open women's final.

1989

Hungary gave permission for thousands of East German refugees and visitors to emigrate to West Germany.

1998

President Clinton met with members of his Cabinet to apologize and ask forgiveness in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.