On This Day in:

1527 – German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.

1529 – Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.

1576 – The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.

1682 – King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.

1835 – James Gordon Bennett published the 'New York Herald' for the first time.

1840 – The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.

1851 – The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.

1851 – Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.

1861 – Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.

1877 – Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.

1882 – The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.

1889 – The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.

1910 – Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.

1915 – Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

1935 – The Works Progress Administation began operations following and executive order signed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt.

1937 – The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people were killed.

1941 – Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.

1941 – Bob Hope did his first USO show at California's March Field.

1942 – During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

1945 – Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1946 – The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.

1954 – British runner Roger Banister broke the four minute mile with a time of 3:59.4.

1957 – U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book 'Profiles in Courage'.

1959 – The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.

1960 – Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones.

They were divorced in 1978.

1960 – U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1962 – The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.

1981 – A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin's entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1994 – The Channel Tunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.

1994 – Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S.

President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in

1991.

1997 – Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

1997 – Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.