On this date
In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1927, the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (later CBS) made its on-air debut with a basic network of 16 radio stations.
In 1931, an explosion in the Chinese city of Mukden damaged a section of Japanese-owned railway track; Japan, blaming Chinese nationalists, invaded Manchuria the next day.
In 1947, the National Security Act, which created a National Military Establishment and the position of Secretary of Defense, went into effect.
In 1970, rock star Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27. In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
In 1990, Atlanta was named the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, cheered on by Iraq War veterans and their families on the White House’s South Lawn, urged lawmakers to back his plan to withdraw some troops from Iraq but keep at least 130,000 through the summer of 2008 or longer.
Five years ago: Chicago teachers voted to suspend their strike and return to the classroom after more than a week on picket lines.
One year ago: At the United Nations, the United States, Japan and South Korea condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test and called for tough new measures to further isolate the communist state.