TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1960

Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launched his successful bid for the presidency.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1900

U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China.

1788

Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1811

Sen. Timothy Pickering, a Federalist from Massachusetts, became the first member of the U.S. Senate to be censured after he’d improperly revealed the contents of an executive document.

1929

The United States and Canada reached agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.

1942

The Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1967

Republican Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as the new governor of California in a ceremony that took place in Sacramento shortly just after midnight.

1974

President Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 miles an hour as a way of conserving gasoline in the face of an OPEC oil embargo. (The 55 mph limit was effectively phased out in 1987; federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.)

2007

The state funeral for former President Gerald R. Ford began with an elaborate service at Washington National Cathedral, then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

2015

California began issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants who were in the country illegally. Little Jimmy Dickens, a diminutive singersongwriter who was the oldest cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, died at age 94.

2016

A heavily armed group led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, beginning a 41-day standoff to protest the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires on public land and to demand the federal government turn over public lands to local control.

2017

A suicide bomber driving a pickup loaded with explosives struck a bustling market in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group hours after French President Francois Hollande arrived in the Iraqi capital.

2018

Sen. Al Franken formally resigned from the Senate a month after the Minnesota Democrat announced his plan to leave Congress amid a series of sexual misconduct allegations. NBC News announced that Hoda Kotb would be the co-anchor of the first two hours of the “Today” show, replacing Matt Lauer following his firing due to sexual misconduct allegations.