| 1989: | | | Under President Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan after occupying the country since 1979. |
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| 1978: | | Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. |
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| 1933: | | | An assassin's bullet meant for the U.S. president-elect, Franklin D. Roosevelt, wounded Mayor Anton J. Cermak of Chicago, who died three weeks later. |
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| 1764: | | Auguste Chouteau settled St. Louis at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. |
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