Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1783 - American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America
1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College1
792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College
1794 - French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic
1801 - John Marshall sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States
1862 - Bacardi, one of the world’s largest spirits company, was founded as a small distillery in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba
1927 - The first talkie is released - The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson
1932 - 1932 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York
1932 - Asteroid 1239 Queteleta discovered by Eugène Joseph Delporte
1934 - Asteroid 2824 Franke discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth
1936 - Radium E. becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically
1938 - Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town opens (New York City)
1938 - Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938
1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops
1957 - USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, logged her 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”
1976 - 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria
1977 - Fleetwood Mac releases one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Rumours
1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States; Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F. (-32°C)

Births
1902 - Charles Lindbergh, U.S. aviator (d. 1974)
1913 - Rosa Parks, U.S. civil rights activist

Deaths
708 - Pope Sisinnius
869 - Saint Cyril, after whom the Cyrillic alphabet is named
1894 - Adolphe Sax, instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone (b. 1814)
1983 - Karen Carpenter, U.S. singer, musician (Carpenters) (b. 1950)
1987 - Liberace, U.S. musician (b. 1919)

Holidays & observances
Saint Paul of Tarsus