1513

Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.

1789

The first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)

1956

The first trans-Atlantic telephone cable officially went into service with a three-way ceremonial call between New York, Ottawa and London.

1957

Nine Black students who had been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and the National Guard.

2018

Bill Cosby was sentenced to three-to-10 years in prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home.

Birthdays

Basketball Hall of Famer Hubie Brown is 91. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is 81. Actor Michael Douglas is 80. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 77. Actor Mimi Kennedy is 76. Actor Mark Hamill is 73. Actor Heather Locklear is 63. Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is 59. Actor Will Smith is 56. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is 55. Football Hall of Famer John Lynch is 53. Actor Jordan Gavaris is 35.