On this day in 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted the 30-year ban on the African National Congress, resulting in the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and marking the beginning of the end of apartheid.
| 1979: | | Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, early proponents of British punk rock, died of a drug overdose in New York City. |
|
| 1943: | | | The Battle of Stalingrad in World War II ended with the surrender of German troops to the Soviets. |
|
| 1927: | | American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz was born in Philadelphia. |
|
| 1912: | | Frederick Rodman Law performed what was considered the first motion-picture stunt, parachuting from the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. |
|
| 1876: | | The National League, the oldest existing major-league professional baseball organization in the United States, began play as the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. |
|
| 1848: | | The United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. |
|
| 1653: | | New Amsterdam (New York City) was incorporated as a city. |
|