| On this date in: |
| 1718 |
Hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana, with some of them settling in present-day New Orleans. |
| 1825 |
Uruguay declared its independence from Brazil. |
| 1875 |
Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours. |
| 1916 |
The National Park Service was established within the Department of the Interior. |
| 1921 |
The United States signed a peace treaty with Germany. |
| 1950 |
President Harry S. Truman ordered the Army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike. |
| 1975 |
The album “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen was released. |
| 1984 |
Author Truman Capote was found dead at age 59. |
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| AP Photo |
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| 1985 |
Samantha Smith, the schoolgirl whose letter to Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov resulted in her peace tour of the communist country, was killed with her father in an airplane crash in Maine. |
| 1997 |
The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida. |
| 1998 |
Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell died at age 90. |
| 2003 |
Tennis champion Pete Sampras announced his retirement during a news conference at the U.S. Open in New York. |
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| AP Photo/Elise Amendola |
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| 2009 |
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., died at age 77. |
