Faced with the near certainty of impeachment for his role in the Watergate Scandal, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced his resignation from office on this day.
| 1963: | | Armed robbers stole £2.6 million from the Glasgow-London Royal Mail Train near Bridego Bridge, north of London, in the Great Train Robbery. |
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| 1945: | | The Nürnberg trials were authorized by the London Agreement, signed by the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. |
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| 1907: | | American jazz musician Benny Carter was born in New York City. |
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| 1846: | | | The Wilmot Proviso, an attempt to prohibit the extension of slavery to new territories in the United States, was proposed; in the debate that followed, the Republican Party was born. |
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| 1588: | | The English fleet won a decisive battle over the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines in northern France. |
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