Pope John Paul II begins first official visit to Poland (1979), and Soviet Union and Yugoslavia restore diplomatic ties in Belgrade (1955). Born on this day: St. Pius X, Thomas Hardy and Leo XI. Died: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Raj Kapoor and Rex Harrison.
32 events, 52 births and 48 deaths on this date.
The Pope returned to his homeland, Poland, on this day in 1979. It was the first time a pope had visited a Communist country, and crowds turned out in huge numbers to see him.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY 3.0 plThe Soviet Union and Yugoslavia signed the Belgrade Declaration, ending a rift that had begun in 1948. Relations had been broken off for years, and the declaration let both states rebuild them.
Turkey's government, based in Ankara, asked the United Nations to use the country's own name, Türkiye, and the organisation agreed. The change meant Türkiye replaced Turkey in UN listings, reflecting how the country wished to be known abroad.
Followers of the anarchist Luigi Galleani set off bombs in eight American cities on the same day, a wave of attacks that fed the First Red Scare. The attacks drove a national panic about radicals and left-wing groups.
Marconi lodged a patent covering a way to send messages through the air without cables, a step towards the radio we use today. The Italian inventor later shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics, and is often credited with inventing radio.
Pach Brothers · Public domain
The Palestine Liberation Organization was founded in Jerusalem at an Arab League summit, initially aiming to create an Arab state across former Mandatory Palestine. It later became the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinian people.
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Giuseppe Sarto, born into a poor family in the Austrian Empire, became Pope Pius X in 1903. He is remembered for opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic teaching, lowering the age for First Communion, and being canonised as a saint.
Ernest Walter Histed · Public domain
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet who set many of his books in the invented region of Wessex. He wrote tragic stories of rural people struggling against passion and social circumstance, and he is remembered for novels such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
Bain News Service, publisher · Public domain
Alessandro de' Medici, a Florentine diplomat and churchman, became Pope Leo XI at nearly seventy. He died of fever within a month, one of the shortest papacies in history.
anonymous · Public domain
Garibaldi, nicknamed the Hero of the Two Worlds, fought in South America and Europe and helped unify Italy under a single kingdom. Though a committed republican, he set aside his ideals and backed the monarchist Cavour to achieve that unity.
In album: Cartes-de-visite portraits of U.S. Army officers, children, and others, p. 15, right. · Public domain
Known as the Charlie Chaplin of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor acted, directed and produced Hindi films, often playing a Tramp-style wanderer. His films Awaara and Boot Polish both competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Artem Abd · Public domain
Rex Harrison was an English stage and film actor, best remembered for playing Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, a role that won him an Academy Award. He was knighted in 1989, the year before his death.
Allan warren · CC BY-SA 3.0
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