On this day in 1949, a constitution went into effect in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany that formed the country of East Germany, which existed alongside West Germany until 1990, when the two Germanys reunited.
| 1985: | | Members of the Palestine Liberation Front, a small faction headed by Abu Abbas within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), hijacked an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro. |
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| 1944: | | The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, in which the United States, China, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom formulated proposals for a world organization that became the basis for the United Nations, concluded in Washington, D.C. |
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| 1934: | | Playwright, poet, novelist, and essayist Amiri Baraka, who wrote of the experiences and anger of African Americans, was born. |
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| 1849: | | | American short-story writer, poet, and critic Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, Maryland. |
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| 1826: | | The Granite Railway, the first chartered railroad in the United States, began service. |
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| 1780: | | American forces defeated British loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolution. |
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| 1765: | | The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City to frame resolutions of “rights and grievances” of the American colonies. |
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| 1571: | | Allied Christian forces defeated the Ottoman Turks during a naval engagement at the Battle of Lepanto. |
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