On this date:
In 1621, the Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherlands -- now known as New York.

In 1808, Jefferson Davis -- the first and only president of the Confederacy -- was born in Christian¹ County, Kentucky.

In 1937, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated² the British throne, married Wallis Warfield Simpson in Monts, France.

In 1948, the 200-inch reflecting telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory³ in California was dedicated⁴.

In 1963, Pope John the 23rd died at the age of 81. He was succeeded by Pope Paul the Sixth.

In 1965, astronaut Edward White became the first American to "walk" in space, during the flight of "Gemini Four."

In 1968, pop artist Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio, known as "The Factory," by Valerie Solanas, an actress and self-styled militant⁵ feminist⁶.

In 1981, Pope John Paul the Second left a Rome hospital and returned to the Vatican three weeks after the attempt on his life.

In 1989, Chinese army troops began their sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations⁷.

In 1989, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died.

Ten years ago: President Bush and Soviet⁸ President Mikhail S. Gorbachev concluded their Washington summit with a joint⁹ news conference at the White House. Gorbachev and his delegation¹⁰ then flew to Minnesota for a whirlwind tour of Minneapolis-St. Paul. "City of Angels" won Best Musical and "The Grapes of Wrath¹¹" won Best Play at the 44th Tony Awards.

Five years ago: Bosnian Serb officials made contradictory¹² statements about the whereabouts of an American pilot, a day after his Air Force jet was shot down. (Bosnian Serb military sources claimed that the pilot, later identified as Captain Scott F. O'Grady, was in Bosnian Serb hands -- a claim that proved false.)

One year ago: Caving in to Russian and Western demands, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepted a peace plan for Kosovo designed to end mass expulsions of ethnic¹³ Albanians and eleven weeks of NATO airstrikes.