In 1565, a Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at what is now St. Augustine, Fla.
In 1664, the Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York.
In 1889, Ohio Sen. Robert A. Taft, who came to be known as "Mr. Republican," was born in Cincinnati.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a "limited national emergency" in response to the outbreak of war in Europe.
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"At almost any point in the world's history, people could have said that the world was in such terrible shape that it was immoral to bring children into it. I would not have liked to have had denied me the chance to live in these exciting times."