1903 - American artist James Whistler passed away.
1945 - The Potsdam Conference began after World War II, gathering British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and U.S. President Harry Truman.
1959 - Jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday died.
1969 - In Spain, General Francisco Franco appointed Prince Juan Carlos as his successor as Head of State.
1973 - A military coup in Afghanistan led by former Prime Minister Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan overthrew King Mohammad Zahir Shah. Daoud Khan was declared President of the Republic.
1995 - Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, a five-time world champion in auto racing, passed away.
1996 - TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off from New York en route to Paris, killing all 230 people on board.
2000 - Bashar al-Assad was officially sworn in as President of Syria, succeeding his late father Hafez al-Assad, who had held the position for the past three decades.
2005 - Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, who led Britain to the forefront of the European Union during his tenure in the early 1970s, died at the age of 89.
2009 - Legendary American broadcaster Walter Cronkite passed away.
2014 - A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in the Donetsk region, resulting in the deaths of 295 passengers on board.
