Also on this date
In 1867, Canada became a selfgoverning dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.
In 1944, delegates from 44 countries began meeting at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where they agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1963, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.
In 1966, the Medicare federal insurance program went into effect.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment.
In 1997, actor Robert Mitchum died in Santa Barbara, California, at age 79.
In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
In 2002, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court, came into existence.
In 2004, actor Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles at age 80.
In 2015, after more than a halfcentury of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared they would reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.
Ten years ago: California lawmakers approved a $20 million settlement with the family of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a girl and held captive in a secret backyard for 18 years by a paroled sex offender.
Five years ago: Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly at their General Convention in Salt Lake City to allow religious weddings for samesex couples.
One year ago: Hundreds of protesters swarmed into Hong Kong’s legislature, defacing portraits of lawmakers and spray-painting prodemocracy slogans in the chamber before vacating it as riot police cleared surrounding streets with tear gas; the three-hour occupation came on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.