On this date:
In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.
In 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence from Colombia.
In 1900, the first major U.S. automobile show opened at New York’s Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Automobile Club of America.
In 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was founded in Detroit by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. (The company was acquired by General Motors in 1918.)
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide election victory over Republican challenger Alfred M. “Alf” Landon.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit; on board was a dog named Laika (LY’-kah), who was sacrificed in the experiment.
In 1960, the Meredith Willson musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” opened on Broadway with Tammy Grimes in the title role.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to win a White House term in his own right.
In 1970, Salvador Allende (ah-YEN’-day) was inaugurated as president of Chile.
In 1976, the horror movie “Carrie,” adapted from the Stephen King novel and starring Sissy Spacek, was released by United Artists.
In 1979, five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with heavily armed Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis during an anti-Klan protest in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1991, Israeli and Palestinian representatives held their first-ever face-to-face talks in Madrid, Spain; in another milestone, Syria opened its first one-on-one meeting with Israel in 43 years.
Ten years ago: U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation, resigned from Congress. French conductor Paul Mauriat, whose arrangement of “Love is Blue” topped U.S. charts in the 1960s, died in Perpignan, France, at age 81.
Five years ago: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou abandoned his plan to put a European rescue deal to a popular vote. Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Matty Alou died in his native Dominican Republic at age 72.