TODAY IN HISTORY

1368

China’s Ming dynasty, which lasted nearly three centuries, began as Zhu Yuanzhang (zhoo whan-zhahng) was formally acclaimed emperor following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty.

1789

Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

1845

Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

1932

New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1950

The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

1962

Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

1977

The TV mini-series “Roots,” based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.

1998

Fighting scandal allegations involving Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton assured his Cabinet during a meeting that he was innocent and urged them to concentrate on their jobs.

2002

John Walker Lindh, a U.s.born Taliban fighter, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges that he’d conspired to kill fellow Americans. (Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to providing support for the Taliban; he was released in May 2019after serving more than 17 years.)

2020

Chinese state media said the city of Wuhan would be shutting down outbound flights and trains, trying to halt the spread of a new virus that had sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 17. The World Health Organization said the viral illness in China was not yet a global health emergency, though the head of the U.N. health agency added that “it may yet become one.”

2013

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered fiery rejoinders to Republican critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the deadly attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, 83, the longtime head of Poland’s influential Roman Catholic church at a time when it played a key role in the fight against communism, died in Warsaw.