Today in history

In 1775 colonial forces captured Montreal during the American Revolution.

In 1789 Benjamin Franklin sent a letter to a friend in which he wrote that, “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.”

In 1927 the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River was opened, linking New York and New Jersey.

In 1942 the minimum draft age was lowered to 18 from 21.

In 1956 the Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.

In 1971 the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 rocketed into orbit around Mars.

In 1974 Karen Silkwood, 28, a technician and union activist at Kerr-McGee's Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash. (Rumors of foul play were never substantiated.)

In 1977 Al Capp’s syndicated comic strip “Li’l Abner” appeared in newspapers for the last time.

In 1979 former California Gov. Ronald Reagan announced in New York his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington.

In 1985 Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, killing 23,000 people and covering 14 towns with an avalanche of ash and mud.

In 1994 Sweden voted to join the European Union.

In 1999 Lennox Lewis became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, winning a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.

In 2001 Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban abandoned the capital, Kabul, without a fight, allowing U.S.-backed fighters to take over the city.

In 2002 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved a compromise sex-abuse policy after the Vatican demanded they make changes to balance fairness to priests with compassion for victims. Also in 2002 , claiming Iraq was seeking the “path of peace,” Saddam Hussein’s government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors.

In 2003 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had refused to remove his granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was thrown off the bench by a judicial ethics panel for having “placed himself above the law.”

In 2013 Hawaii legalized same-sex marriage. Also in 2013 the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 16,000 for the first time.

In 2015 a series of attacks targeting young concertgoers, soccer fans and Parisians at popular nightspots killed at least 130 people in the French capital, leading President Francois Hollande to declare a state of emergency and seal the country’s borders; Islamic State claimed responsibility.