Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great pomp as would befit a returning god
1837 - Formation of Mount Holyoke Seminary, first US college founded for women
1861 - American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mailship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US
1864 - U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George McClellan
1889 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state
1892 - U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms
1895 - While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers x-rays
1932 - U.S. presidential election, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory
1933 - Great Depression: New Deal - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed
1960 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office
1988 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis

Births
1656 - Edmond Halley, British astronomer, mathematician (birthday according to the Gregorian calendar)
1836 - Milton Bradley, manufacturer, lithographer, game maker (d. 1911)
1847 - Bram Stoker, Irish novelist (Dracula) (d. 1912)
1848 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician
1866 - Herbert Austin, automobile pioneer (Austin-Healey)
1868 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (d. 1942)
1884 - Hermann Rorschach, psychiatrist
1893 - Clarence Williams, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 1965)
1918 - Hermann Zapf, German designer
1922 - Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon
1954 - Rickie Lee Jones, singer, composer
2003 - Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

Deaths
955 - Pope Agapetus II
1226 - Louis VIII of France
1308 - John Duns Scotus, Scottish philosopher
1674 - John Milton, English poet
1890 - César Franck, composer and organist
1978 - Norman Rockwell, American illustrator