1. 1870 - Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of modern Italy, seizes the Papal States from the French, leading to the unification of Italy
2. 1881 - Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as the 21st President of the United States, succeeding James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated
3. 1934 - Sophia Loren is born
4. 1946 - The first annual Cannes Film Festival opens on the French Riviera
5. 1967 - The Queen launches the new Cunard cruise liner, the Queen Elizabeth II, at a ceremony on the Clydebank
6. 1970 - The Russian space probe, Luna 16, is the first to land on the Moon and collect rock samples to bring back to Earth
7. 1973 - In the Battle of the Sexes tennis match, top women's player Billie Jean King, 29, beats self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men's player
8. 1984 - A suicide bomber attacks the United States embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut killing 20
9. 1985 - The South African government returns Stevie Wonder to the air waves, after banning his music from being played on radio stations for dedicating his Oscar to the imprisoned anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela
10. 2000 - Independent Counsel Robert Ray announces the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to charge President Clinton and his wife, Hillary
11. 2011 - The US Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy that bans open homosexuality is officially ended
image: © cliff1066
Source: BBC, Wikipedia, historyorb.com, infoplease.com, history.co.uk, brainyhistory.com, on-this-day.com
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