1933 – Released at sea, USS Ranger. This was the first US Navy ship to have been designed since construction began as a military aircraft carrier. Considered too slow to be used by Pacific Fleet transport forces against Japan, the ship spent much of World War II in the Atlantic Ocean where the German fleet was a weaker opponent.
1948 – During the Cold War, the Communist Party takes control of the government in Czechoslovakia and the Third Republic period officially ends. The victory of the Communists in this country alerted Western countries and helped to promote the Marshall Plan quickly, the creation of a state in West Germany, strict measures to keep the Communists out of power in France, Greece, and Italy.
1951 – The first Pan American Games were officially opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina by President Juan Peron. The origin of the Pan American Games was at the X Olympics in Los Angeles, the United States, where officials representing the National Olympic Committees of America discussed organizing an Olympic-style regional athletic competition for American athletes.
1953 – Born in Madrid, Jose Maria Aznar. Aznar is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People’s Party, the predominant center-right party in the country at the time. Aznar remains active in the private sector, and he sometimes gives his views on Spanish politics. He was also a member of the State Council from 2005 to 2006.
1956 – During the 20th Congress of the USSR Communist Party, in his speech On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union denounces the personality cult and Stalin’s crimes. Khrushchev accused Stalin of instigating purges in the party and state in the 1930s. The speech was delivered westward by the Israeli Mossad, who received it from Polish journalist Viktor Grievsky.
1986 – During the People’s Revolution, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos escapes the country after 20 years of his rule. Corazon Aquino becomes the first woman president in the Philippines. This revolution was widely seen as a victory of the people against two decades of President Marcos’ presidential rule, and made headlines as “the revolution that surprised the world”.
1992 – About 613 civilians are killed by the Armenian armed forces during the conflict in the Karabagh region of Azerbaijan. Known also as the Khojaly massacre, this crime came in the wake of the ethnic cleansing campaign that Armenia, and Azerbaijan, had waged on the respective populations of the province. A few months earlier such a massacre but lesser massacre had been carried out by Azeri forces over the Armenian population.
2017 – Dies in Los Angeles, at the age of 61, Bill Paxton. Paxton was an American actor and director. He has appeared in films such as The Terminator, Commando, Weird Science, Aliens, Near Dark, Predator 2, Tombstone, True Lies, Apollo 13, Twister, Titanic, Mighty Joe Young, U-571, and more. His last appearance was in The Circle, released two months after his death.
