This Day in History

1608: French explorer Samuel de Champlain founds the first European settlement on the site of the present city of Québec, Canada.
1754: The opening battle of the French and Indian War takes place at Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania.
1775: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
1890: Idaho is admitted to the Union as the 43d state.
1898: During the Spanish-American War, a Spanish fleet is sunk off Santiago, Cuba.
1954: By 12 strokes, Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins the U.S. Women's Open, a tournament that marks her return to golf after taking time off to recuperate from cancer surgery.
1973: The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), a multinational forum for the promotion of peace, security, justice, and cooperation in Europe, convenes in Helsinki, Finland.
1976: At Entebbe airport in Uganda, an Israeli commando unit stages a raid on an Air France airliner that was hijacked en route from Tel Aviv to Paris; 103 hostages are rescued, while 3 hostages, 7 hijackers, and 20 Ugandan soldiers are killed.
1988: Mistaking a commercial Iranian airliner for an F-14 fighter plane, the U.S. Navy warship Vincennes, in the Persian Gulf, fires a missile that destroys the plane, killing all 290 on board.