2025: Demolition of the White House East Wing begins. Crews in Washington, D.C., started tearing down the wing to clear space for a large new ballroom planned by President Donald Trump. The East Wing had long housed the offices of the first lady, and the demolition drew wide public debate.
2020: NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft grabs a sample from asteroid Bennu. In a brief touch-and-go maneuver, the probe collected rock and dust from the asteroid's surface, the first time a U.S. spacecraft had done so. The sample capsule later parachuted into the Utah desert in 2023.
2014: Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta dies. The Dominican-born designer died at his home in Connecticut at age 82. He was famous for elegant evening wear and dressed several first ladies and Hollywood stars over a career of more than five decades.
2011: Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi is killed by rebel forces. Qaddafi had ruled Libya since seizing power in a 1969 coup. He was captured near his hometown of Sirte and killed as an uprising backed by NATO air strikes brought his four decades in power to an end.
2002: The Blue Stream natural gas pipeline opens in Turkey. Running beneath the Black Sea to carry Russian natural gas to Turkey, it was the deepest underwater pipeline in the world at the time, reaching depths of more than 2,000 meters.
1984: The Monterey Bay Aquarium opens in California. Built inside a former sardine cannery on Monterey's Cannery Row, the street made famous by John Steinbeck, the aquarium focused on the marine life of Monterey Bay. Its towering kelp forest exhibit became one of its best-known features.
1977: A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi. The band's chartered plane ran out of fuel and went down in woods near Gillsburg, Mississippi, while flying to a show in Baton Rouge. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines were among the six people killed, just days after the album Street Survivors was released.
1973: Queen Elizabeth II opens the Sydney Opera House. Danish architect Jørn Utzon's design, with its sail-like roof shells on Sydney Harbour, won an international competition in 1957. Construction ran years late and far over budget, and Utzon quit the project in 1966, but the building became Australia's most famous landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
1973: President Nixon orders Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired. Cox had pressed for the White House tape recordings. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, resigned rather than carry out the order, and Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox. The public outcry over the “Saturday Night Massacre” fueled calls for impeachment.
1968: Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis. The former first lady wed the Greek shipping magnate on his private island of Skorpios in Greece, five years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The marriage stunned much of the American public.
1964: Former President Herbert Hoover dies at 90. Hoover, the 31st president, served from 1929 to 1933 and led the nation as the Great Depression took hold. After leaving office he led government reorganization commissions under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and he died in New York City.
1883: Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón. The treaty ended the War of the Pacific, fought from 1879 to 1883. Peru ceded its southern province of Tarapacá to Chile, which also took control of Tacna and Arica for a set period.
1822: The Congress of Verona opens in Italy. It was the last meeting of the European powers under the Quadruple Alliance system set up after the Napoleonic Wars. The gathering led to French military intervention in Spain the following year.
1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase. The treaty with France, negotiated under President Thomas Jefferson, bought about 828,000 square miles for $15 million and roughly doubled the size of the United States. Much of present-day Minnesota west of the Mississippi was part of the purchase.
1740: Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI dies. He had tried to secure the succession of his daughter Maria Theresa through the Pragmatic Sanction. Rival claims after his death, starting with Prussia's invasion of Silesia, set off the War of the Austrian Succession.
1600: The Battle of Sekigahara is fought in Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated a coalition of rival lords, securing his family's dominance. He became shogun in 1603, and the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan until 1868.
Born on This Day
2001: Paige Bueckers, American basketball player Turns 25. Minnesota connection: a Hopkins native who led UConn to the 2025 national title and went No. 1 overall to the Dallas Wings in the WNBA draft.
1999: NBA YoungBoy, American rapper Turns 27. Baton Rouge rapper known for a long run of chart-topping albums.
1979: John Krasinski, American actor and director Turns 47. Played Jim Halpert on The Office and directed A Quiet Place.
1971: Snoop Dogg, American rapper Turns 55. Hip-hop icon behind “Gin and Juice” and “Drop It Like It's Hot.”
1965: William Zabka, American actor Turns 61. Played Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid and the series Cobra Kai.
1964: Kamala Harris, American politician Turns 62. Served as the 49th vice president and was the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
1958: Viggo Mortensen, American actor Turns 68. Played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films.
1958: Scott Hall, American professional wrestler Known as Razor Ramon and as a founding member of the nWo.
1956: Danny Boyle, English film director Won the Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire and also made Trainspotting.
1953: Keith Hernandez, American baseball player Gold Glove first baseman for the Cardinals and Mets, also remembered for his guest role on Seinfeld.
1953: Bill Nunn, American actor Played Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing and Robbie Robertson in the Spider-Man films.
1950: Tom Petty, American rock singer and songwriter Leader of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, known for “Free Fallin'” and “American Girl.”
1942: Earl Hindman, American actor Played Wilson, the neighbor whose face was always hidden by the fence, on Home Improvement.
1937: Wanda Jackson, American singer The “Queen of Rockabilly,” known for “Let's Have a Party.”
1937: Juan Marichal, Dominican baseball pitcher Hall of Fame San Francisco Giants ace famous for his high leg kick.
1935: Jerry Orbach, American actor Played Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order and voiced Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast.
1932: William Christopher, American actor Played Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H.
1931: Mickey Mantle, American baseball player Switch-hitting New York Yankees center fielder and Hall of Famer, born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma.
1882: Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor Best known for playing Count Dracula on stage and in the 1931 film.
