1959
U.S. gets northern exposure
Alaska became the 49th state in the United States.
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1521
Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X.
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1777
George Washington defeated Cornwallis's forces at the Battle of Princeton.
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1833
Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands.
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1870
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.
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1920
The New York Yankees acquired Babe Ruth and so began the "curse of the Bambino" that haunted the Boston Red Sox until 2004.
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1947
Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.
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1958
Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole overland.
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1962
Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro.
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1967
Jack Ruby, the man who shot John Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, died.
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1987
Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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1990
Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces.
