On This Day in:

1782 – The Spanish captured Minorca from the British.

1783 – Sweden recognized the independence of the United States.

1846 – 'The Oregon Spectator', based in Oregon City, became the first newspaper published on the Pacific coast.

1861 – Samuel Goodale patented the moving picture peep show machine.

1885 – Congo State was established under Leopold II of Belgium, as a personal possession.

1881 – Phoenix, AZ, was incorporated. The U.S. had acquired the land as part of the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico.

1917 – Mexico's constitution was adopted.

1917 – The U.S. Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 (Asiatic Barred Zone Act) with an overwhelming majority. The action overrode President Woodrow Wilson's December 14, 1916 veto.

1924 – The BBC time signals, or 'pips', from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time. They are broadcast every hour.

1931 – Maxine Dunlap became the first woman licensed as a glider pilot.

1937 – U.S. President Roosevelt proposed enlarging the U.S.

Supreme Court in an effort to get judicial support for his New Deal legislation. The plan failed.

1940 – 'Amanda of Honeymoon Hill' debuted on radio.

1952 – In New York City, four signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square that told pedestrians 'don't walk.'

1953 – The Walt Disney’s film 'Peter Pan' opened at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.

Disney movies, music and books

1958 – Gamel Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the United Arab Republic.

1961 – The first issue of the 'Sunday Telegraph' was published.

1962 – French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria's independence.

1972 – Bob Douglas became the first black man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.

1982 – Great Britain imposed economic sanctions against Poland and Russia in protest against martial law in Poland.

1987 – The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 2,200point for the first time. The market closed at 2201.49.

1988 – A pair of indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama's military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.

1994 – White separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, MS, of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

1997 – Switzerland's 'Big Three' banks announced they would create and endow a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.

1997 – Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.

1999 – Mike Tyson was sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting two people after a car accident on August 31, 1998. Tyson was also fined $5,000, had to serve 2 years of probation, and had to perform 200 hours of community service upon release.

2001 – It was announced the Kelly Ripa would be Regis Philbin's cohost. The show was renamed to 'Live! With Regis and Kelly.'

2001 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced their separation.

2003 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence to the U.N. concerning Iraq's material breach of U.N. Resolution

1441 as justification for the NATO invasion of the country.