From The New York Times: Today in history:
| 1779 | John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain. |
| 1825 | The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England. |
| 1928 | The United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government. |
| 1939 | Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks
of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
during World War II. |
| 1954 | "Tonight!" hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV. |
| 1959 | A typhoon battered the main Japanese island of Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people. |
| 1964 | The Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy. |
| 1990 | The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Supreme Court nomination of David H. Souter. |
| 1991 | The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. |
| 1994 | More than 350 Republican congressional
candidates signed the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they
pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the U.S. House. |
| 1995 | The government unveiled its redesigned $100 bill. |
| 1996 | The Taliban, a band of former seminary
students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani
out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader
Najibullah. |
| 1998 | Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder was elected chancellor of Germany, ending 16 years of conservative rule. |
| 1998 | Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs during the last game of the season. |
| 1999 | Tiger Stadium closed after 87 years as home of baseball's Detroit Tigers. |
| 2001 | An armed man went on a shooting rampage
in the local parliament in Zug, Switzerland, killing 14 people before
taking his own life. |
| 2001 | President George W. Bush announced plans to bolster airline security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. |
| 2005 | Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. |
| 2006 | A gunman took six girls hostage at a high school in Bailey, Colo.; he molested them and killed one girl before committing suicide. |
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