British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Atlantic Charter on this day. It was a joint declaration between the two nations during World War II. The charter stated, among other points, that neither nation sought any aggrandizement, they desired no territorial changes without the free assent of the peoples concerned, and they would try to promote equal access for all states to trade and to raw materials and, pending a general security through renunciation of force, potential aggressors must be disarmed.
| 1947: | | Pakistan became a sovereign state, bringing an end to British rule there. |
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| 1935: | | The U.S. Congress enacted the Social Security Act, establishing a permanent national old-age pension system through employer and employee contributions. |
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| 1917: | | China declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War I. |
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| 1900: | | An international force seized Beijing to crush the Boxer Rebellion. |
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| 1880: | | | Construction was completed on Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) in Germany. |
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| 1457: | | The first printed book in Europe with a colophon bearing the name of the printer was completed in Mainz, Germany. |
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