Kennedy warns that an attack on Berlin would be an attack on NATO (1961), and Jordan and Israel formally end their state of war (1994). Born on this day: Rosalind Franklin, Gavrilo Princip and Elias Canetti. Died: Vladimir Vysotsky, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Innocent VIII.
26 events, 51 births and 66 deaths on this date.
In a speech, President Kennedy made clear that any assault on West Berlin would be treated as an assault on the whole NATO alliance. The warning was part of his firm stance during the Berlin crisis, when Cold War tensions over the divided city were running high.
Cecil W. Stoughton · Public domainThe Cuban Missile CrisisHear the story in ChunksJordan and Israel put their names to a declaration in Washington that formally closed a state of war lasting since 1948. It opened the way to the peace treaty Jordan signed with Israel in 1994.
Guanacaste, a northwestern province bordering Nicaragua, was formally brought under Costa Rican control on this day. The move settled a long dispute over the region and shaped the country's modern borders.
The Soviet Union sent the Mars 5 probe towards the Red Planet, part of its long run of robotic missions to explore Mars. The craft was built to study the planet's atmosphere and surface from orbit.
Mozart finished this symphony, one of only two he wrote in a minor key that survive. Its brooding, restless mood makes it one of his most admired works in that key.
Spanish conquistador Diego de Losada founded the settlement that became Caracas, now the capital of Venezuela. It was set up in a valley inland from the Caribbean coast, behind a steep mountain range.
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Franklin was a British scientist whose X-ray images of DNA were central to finding its double helix shape. Her role went largely unacknowledged during her lifetime, and she died of cancer in 1958, aged 37.
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb student whose 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo triggered the July Crisis and, within weeks, the First World War. He died in an Austro-Hungarian prison in 1918, aged 23.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Born in Ruse, Bulgaria, to a Sephardic Jewish family, Canetti wrote in German and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981. He is best remembered for Crowds and Power, his nonfiction book on crowds and power.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
Vysotsky was a Soviet singer-songwriter and actor, remembered for gravelly songs full of street slang and social commentary that the official cultural establishment largely ignored. Despite that, he was hugely popular with ordinary listeners and remains a major influence on Russian musicians and actors.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 4.0
Coleridge was an English poet and critic who helped found the Romantic movement, writing The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. He also coined phrases such as suspension of disbelief, which still shape how readers approach fiction.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Innocent VIII was pope from 1484 until his death, and is remembered for issuing the 1484 bull Summis desiderantes, which encouraged the persecution of witches. He also collected a large payment from the Ottoman sultan to keep the sultan's captive brother locked away in Rome.
anonymous · Public domain
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