2018
American evangelist Billy Graham—whose large-scale preaching missions, known as crusades, and friendship with numerous U.S. presidents brought him to international prominence—died at age 99.
1995
American businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. It was the first of his many aviation records.
1972
U.S. President Richard M. Nixon paid a state visit to the People’s Republic of China, ending a 21-year estrangement between the communist country and the United States.
1936
American lawyer and politician Barbara Jordan, the first African American congresswoman to come from the Deep South, was born in Houston, Texas.
1925
The American weekly magazine The New Yorker began publication under Harold W. Ross.
1921
Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi) overthrew the Qājār dynasty in Iran.
1916
The Battle of Verdun, one of the most devastating engagements of World War I, began.
1907
W.H. Auden, one of the foremost English-language poets of his era, was born.
1903
Author Anaïs Nin, whose literary reputation rests on the eight published volumes of her personal diaries, was born in France.
1893
Spanish musician Andrés Segovia, who was considered the foremost guitarist of his time, was born.
1885
The Washington Monument was dedicated on the grounds of the Mall in Washington, D.C.
1876
Abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi was born in Romania.
1848
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, was first published; the pamphlet became hugely influential.
1836
French opera and ballet composer Léo Delibes, who was the first to write music of high quality for the ballet, was born in Saint-Germain-du-Val.
