Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born American bodybuilder and film actor, was inaugurated on this day in 2003 as the governor of California following a recall election that ousted the sitting governor.
| 1989: | | Massive antigovernment demonstrations in Czechoslovakia were set off by police brutality at a demonstration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the suppression of a student demonstration in German-occupied Prague, and, under the leadership of Václav Havel, they continued until the communist government resigned. |
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| 1950: | | German athlete Roland Matthes, one of the greatest backstrokers in the history of swimming, was born in East Germany. |
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| 1887: | | | British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was born in London. |
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| 1869: | | | After 10 years of construction, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt. |
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| 1800: | | The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C. |
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| 1558: | | | At the death of Mary I this day, Elizabeth Tudor came to the English throne as Elizabeth I. |
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| 284: | | | Diocletian was acclaimed emperor by his soldiers. |
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