| 1492 | Christopher Columbus, on his first voyage to the New World, lands on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). |
| 1775 | The first Phi Beta Kappa chapter is founded, at the College of William and Mary. |
| 1933 | Prohibition ends with the ratification of the 21st Amendment , repealing the 18th Amendment. |
| 1955 | The AFL-CIO is created by the merger of the nation's 2 largest labor organizations, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. |
| 1978 | The U.S. spacecraft Pioneer Venus 1 reaches Venus and begins mapping its surface. |
| 1988 | Evangelist Jim Bakker and a top aide are indicted for defrauding contributors to his PTL ministry. |
| 1994 | The START I Treaty, reducing the number of nuclear warheads held by the U.S. and the USSR by about 25 percent, comes into force. |
| 1996 | Pres. Bill Clinton announces his choice of Madeleine Albright as secretary of state, making her the highest-ranking woman government official in U.S. history. |
| 2003 | A Chechen suicide bomber kills 45 and injures more than 150 on a commuter train in Yessentuki, Russia. |
