On this date...

Map of Leiden

In 1620, a group of English separatists—known as the Pilgrims—left Leiden, Netherlands, heading for Southampton, England. There, they would join other passengers and set sail for North America on the Mayflower.

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution in recognition of the services of 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. He accepts a commission as a major-general in the Continental Army—without pay.

In 1777, The Continental Army was marching on its way from New Jersey to Philadelphia.

General Nathanael Greene decided that the area around the John & Elizabeth Moland House was a good place to camp for the night. They were on their way to the Battle of Brandywine.

In 1864 Ulysses S. Grant is promoted to major general of volunteers

In 1875, Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66

In 1876 US Coast Guard officers' training school is established in New Bedford, Massachusetts

In 1914, The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading didn't resume until December.)

In 1946, Marilyn Monroe, then known as Norma Jean Dougherty, signs her first movie contract, with Twentieth-Century Fox. She will be paid $150 a week.

In 1948, U.S. President Harry S. Truman dedicated Idlewild Airport as New York International Airport (rededicated as John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963).

In 1964, Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the moon—4,308 in total—before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of Clouds. The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes.

In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts James B. Irwin and David Scott first used the four-wheeled battery-powered Lunar Roving Vehicle to extensively explore the Moon's surface, in particular the Hadley-Apennine site.

In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment

In 1973, Delta Flight 723 strikes a concrete seawall as it descends into Boston’s Logan International Airport amid heavy ground fog. Almost all on board die instantly in what becomes the worst air disaster at Logan and in all of New England.

In 1990, Nolan Ryan became the 20th major league pitcher to win 300 games as his Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.

In 1991, START I signed by the US and Soviet Union to begin nuclear arms reduction.

In 2011, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced a historic agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation's first-ever financial default.