1783 – More than 6,000 British troops evacuated New York City after signing the peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War.
1952 – Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens in London. It will become the longest continuously-running play in history.
1963 – President John F. Kennedy, assassinated in Dallas three days earlier, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
1973 – President Richard Nixon ordered the national highway speed limit cut from 70 mph to 55 mph to reduce gasoline usage.
1984 – Thirty-six top musicians gather in a studio and record Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
1986 – President Ronald Reagan announced the resignation of national security adviser John Poindexter and the firing of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North in the aftermath of the secret, illegal Iran arms sale. North’s secretary Fawn Hall smuggles important documents out of his office.
1999 – Six-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzales was rescued by a pair of fishermen off the coast of Florida.
