In Washington, D.C., on this day in 1981, barely two months after his inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassin John W. Hinckley, Jr.
| 2003: | | | A law banning cigarette smoking in all places of employment, including restaurants and bars, went into effect in New York City. |
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| 2002: | | Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1936–52), died in her sleep at Windsor Castle at age 101. |
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| 1914: | | | American blues vocalist and harmonica virtuoso Sonny Boy Williamson was born in Jackson, Tennessee. |
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| 1912: | | The Treaty of Fès established the French protectorate in Morocco. |
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| 1867: | | William H. Seward, secretary of state under U.S. President Andrew Johnson, signed the Alaska Purchase, a treaty ceding Russian North America to the United States for a price—$7.2 million—that amounted to about two cents per acre. |
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| 1856: | | The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Crimean War. |
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| 1840: | | | The English dandy Beau Brummell died, destitute and mad, in Caen, France. |
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| 1282: | | The people of Palermo massacred 2,000 French residents in the Sicilian Vespers, a revolt against the Angevin king Charles I. |
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