1988 The Soviet Communist Party announces support of Perestroika.

1982 Largest mass wedding ceremony to date Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church marries 2,075 couples.

1979 First U.S. coin to honor a woman The Susan B. Anthony dollar is placed in circulation. Source: Famous First Facts

1975 Ann Landers announces in her column that she is getting a divorce.

1971 ACTION is established to coordinate certain social and economic programs sponsored by the federal government.

1970 Where's Huddles debuts on CBS, a prime-time cartoon about two professional football players.

1966 Medicare Coverage begins. The first Medicare patient is treated today at the Polyclinic Hospital in New York City.

1963 Zip code The U.S. postal service places the system into effect.

1949 General Services Administration is established, manages government property and records.

1949 Mama debuts on CBS, with Dick Van Patten.

1943 Income Tax withholding goes into affect requiring employers to collect taxes from their employees as they are paid.

1941 First TV Commercial WNBT of New York airs a 10-second ad for Bulova Watches.  This was the first day that commercial television was authorized.

1939 Executive Office of the President is established, purpose is to advise and provide information to the President.

1907 First air force is established by the U.S. Army under the command of Capt. Charles de Forest Chandler.

1898 Spanish-American War - Charge of San Juan Hill Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders wage their victorious assault.

1892 Baseball - First sports writer punched by a major-league baseball player Chicago Cubs outfielder Jimmy Ryan slugs George Bechel.

1874 First U.S. zoo opens, the Philadelphia Zoological Society.

1863 Civil War - Battle of Gettysburg Confederate General George Pickett attacks. Before this battle - which marked the beginning of the end for the South - would end two days later, each side would lose more than 3,000 men.

1862 Bureau of Internal Revenue is established by Congress.

1847 Postage First U.S. postage stamps go on sale.

1770 Closest Recorded Comet Approach Lexell's Comet comes within 1,403,632 miles (2,258,927 kilometers) of Earth.

1731 First American circulating library The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin, is organized.

1656 First Quakers in America arrive, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher. They were imprisoned and then expelled from Boston.

1967 Pamela Anderson Canadian actress. TV: Home Improvement (Lisa the Tool Time Girl) and Baywatch (lifeguard C.J. Parker).

1961 Diana d. 1997 Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer).  First wife (1981-1996) of Charles, the Prince of Wales.  She died in a car crash in a Paris tunnel along with her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed.  It is estimated that 2.5 billion people watched the funeral on TV.

1961 Carl Lewis American track athlete, won four Olympic gold medals in 1984, two in 1988, and two more in 1992.

1952 Dan Aykroyd Canadian-born Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live. Music: Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers.

1951 Daryl Anderson American actor. TV: Lou Grant (Animal).

1950 David Duke American political leader, Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi sympathizer, Louisiana State Representative (1990-92), and presidential candidate.

1945 Deborah Harry American singer, with Blondie. Music: Heart of Glass (1979, #1), Call Me (1980, #1), and Rapture (1981, #1). Film: Videodrome (1982).

1942 Karen Black (Karen Ziegler), American actress. Film: Easy Rider (1969, as the acid-tripping whore) and Five Easy Pieces (1970, waitress). TV: Trilogy of Terror (1975, memorable as the spear-wielding doll's victim).

1934 Sydney Pollack American director. Film: Three Days of the Condor (1975).

1934 Jamie Farr American actor. TV: M*A*S*H (Max Klinger).

1925 Farley Granger American actor. Film: Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951). TV: One Life to Live (the first Dr. Will Vernon) and As the World Turns (Earl Mitchell).

1916 Olivia De Havilland Oscar-winning actress. Film: Gone With the Wind (1939, Melanie).

1908 Estée Lauder d. 2004 (Josephine Esther Mentzer), American cosmetics executive.  Quote: "There are no ugly women - only women who don't care or who don't believe they are attractive."

1902 Myron Cohen d. 1986 American comedian, world's most famous Jewish story teller.

1892 James M. Cain d. 1977 American author. Writings: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934).

1877 Benjamin Oliver Davis d. 1970 American soldier, first African-American U.S. Army general (1940).

1872 Louis Bleriot d. 1936 first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel (1909).

1807 Thomas Green Clemson d. 1888 American mining engineer, politician, founder of Clemson University.

1646 Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz d. 1716 German mathematician for whom the Leibniz series is named. He created the notation "dy/dx", the integral sign "∫", designed a machine that could multiply and divide (1671), introduced binary numbers (1679), and created differential (1684) and integral calculus (1686).

2004 Marlon Brando b. 1924 American Oscar-winning actor. Film: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The Wild One (1953), On the Waterfront (1954, Oscar), The Godfather (1972, Don Corleone), and Superman (1978, Superman's father).

2000 Walter Matthau b. 1920 (Walter Matthow), American Oscar-Tony-winning actor. Film: A Shot in the Dark (1961, Tony), The Fortune Cookie (1966, Oscar), and The Odd Couple (1968, Oscar Madison). Quote: "I never mind my wife having the last word. In fact, I'm delighted when she gets to it."

1999 Forrest Edward Mars b. 1904 Sr., American candy maker, inventor of M&M's. They were designed so that soldiers would not get their trigger fingers sticky.

1997 Robert Mitchum b. 1917 American actor. Film: The Night of the Hunter (1955) and Thunder Road (1958). At age 14, he was sentenced to a Georgia chain gang for vagrancy, from which he escaped.

1992 Franco Cristaldi b. 1924 Italian Oscar-winning producer, Amarcord (1973) and Cinema Paradiso (1990).

1991 Michael Landon b. 1936 (Eugene Orowitz), American actor. TV: Bonanza (Little Joe).

1983 Richard Buckminster Fuller b. 1895 American architect, invented the geodesic dome.

1974 Juan Domingo Perón b. 1895 President of Argentina (1946-55, 73-74). His opposition to the Church led to his excommunication by Pope Pius XII. He was forced to resign in 1955 after a revolt, but was welcomed back in 1973 by an unstable country.

1896 Harriet Beecher Stowe b. 1811 American author. Writings: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852, which was the first American novel to sell 1,000,000 copies).

1884 Allan Pinkerton b. 1819 American detective, co-founded the first U.S. detective agency (1850), and was the first chief of the U.S. Army's secret service.

1860 Charles Goodyear b. 1800 American inventor. He patented the process of vulcanization (1844), which made the rubber industry possible.

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