| On this date in: |
| 1630 |
The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changed its name to Boston. |
| 1638 |
France’s King Louis XIV was born. |
| 1810 |
Mexico began a successful revolt against Spanish rule. |
| 1857 |
The song “Jingle Bells” by James Pierpont was copyrighted under its original title, “One Horse Open Sleigh.” |
| 1893 |
Hundreds of thousands of settlers took part in a land run in Oklahoma’s “Cherokee Strip.” |
| 1908 |
General Motors was formed in Flint, Mich., by William Durant. |
| 1919 |
The American Legion was incorporated by an act of Congress. |
| 1940 |
Rep. Samuel T. Rayburn, D-Texas, the longest-serving House speaker in history, was first elected to the post. |
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| AP Photo |
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| 1940 |
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history. |
| 1966 |
The Metropolitan Opera opened its new home at New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. |
| 1972 |
“The Bob Newhart Show” premiered on CBS. |
| 1974 |
President Gerald R. Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft-evaders. |
| 2002 |
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that Iraq had unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors. |
| 2004 |
Hurricane Ivan plowed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph wind and a major storm surge; Ivan was blamed for at least 115 deaths, 43 in the United States. |
| 2007 |
A deadly shooting in Baghdad involving the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. |
| 2008 |
The federal government announced an emergency $85 billion loan to rescue AIG, the world’s largest insurance company. |
