1896

The first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens.

1909

American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole.

1954

Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”

1974

Swedish pop group Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest held in England with the song “Waterloo.”