On this date
In 1804,
the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near presentday Hartford, Ill.
In 1900,
the Olympic Games opened in Paris as part of the 1900 World’s Fair.
In 1955,
representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in 1991.)
In 1961,
Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Ala.
In 1968,
John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a news conference in New York to announce the creation of the Beatles’ latest business venture, Apple Corps.
In 1973,
the United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. (Skylab 1 remained in orbit for six years before burning up during re-entry in 1979.)
In 1998,
Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82.
Ten years ago:
The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species because of the loss of Arctic sea ice.
Five years ago:
In an op-ed appearing in The New York Times, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said she’d undergone a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
One year ago:
Emmanuel Macron swept into office as France’s new president, pledging to fortify the European Union, redesign French politics and glue together his divided nation.